Assassin of Chaos - Hollow
by Someone in the Background
Summary: After the Second Giant War, the Hero of Olympus, Percy Jackson, had everything he had ever wanted but unknown to anyone, a powerful being wanted him gone. Using a new camper, the being forced Percy to leave and after a thousand years, Chaos found him, and he became the most feared assassin in the universe. He has only gone back on a few occasions. Contains Violence
1. Chapter 1 - Peace & Prosperity?

**Assassin of Chaos – Hollow**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Percy Jackson series, all rights belong to Rick Riordan**

**Chapter 1 – Peace and Prosperity? **

3rd Person POV

It had been a year since Gaea was defeated and the second giant war was won. The war had left its toll on everyone who was involved, some people managed to hide what impact it had on them, but others were not so capable and struggled to move on. These people would often group together to get through the days, each searching for something or someone to blame for everything that they had to endure.

The great heroes of the war were all granted partial immortality as a reward for their actions and sacrifices, with one Percy Jackson once again being offered godhood. After turning the offer down, he instead requested that Lord Hades and Lady Hestia be given thrones on Olympus as well as places on the Olympian Council in which they were forever grateful to the young hero. Hades now saw how powerful Percy was and respected it as much as anyone should, but he also knew that there were those who would not share this same view, the major one being Zeus.

Zeus did not like that there was a demigod so powerful as he saw the young hero as a threat to his crown. It is because of this that he actively sought any reason to punish and destroy Percy but always came up short due to the hero's natural kindness, ability to forgive and loyalty that he showed to everyone he met. Even though this task would be extremely difficult, the king of the gods did not give up and searched for any opportunity that he could use to get rid of the young hero, then a year after the war, he finally found one.

Percy's POV 

There was peace at Camp Half-Blood after the war, any areas that were damaged had been rebuilt but not improved as everyone wanted the camp to remain the same as it was always a constant in everyone's life. Everyone got on with each other because of the experiences that they all shared and the friends that they all lost. I was extremely happy with my life right now because of the friends that I still had and the new ones that I had made, I became very close to Nico and Thalia having found that I could share anything with them, and they would also do the same with me. My relationship with Annabeth is fantastic and has flourished into more than I ever could have hoped for, I would spend most days staring into her beautiful grey eyes wondering how I was so lucky to have someone like her all to myself. I had decided that I would propose to her but first I needed to gain permission from her mother, the goddess Athena, and get a ring that would parallel her beauty if that was even possible.

When I travelled to Olympus to discuss this request with the Lady Athena, I was sent on a quest to prove that I was strong enough to take care of her daughter, which I thought was stupid considering I already defeated Kronos and Gaea, but I couldn't argue with a goddess, so I embarked on this quest as soon as possible. I couldn't let Annabeth know what I was doing as it would ruin the surprise so I asked Nico and Thalia to tell her that Chiron sent me on an urgent mission but also keep her busy so that she wouldn't be worried or try find me.

I wanted to complete this quest as fast as I could so that I could get back to her and hopefully start the happy life that I always wanted to have with her, and I hope the life that she wanted to have with me.

_**1 Month Later**_

3rd Person POV

The night was unforgiving this particular day, mist covered the floor of the surrounding forest and the only sources of light were the rays of moonlight that occasionally shone through the tree cover, as well as this, a cold, harsh wind blew through the air, seemingly forcing trees to shake and bow in its presence. It was now a month after Percy had left to complete his quest, everything at camp was the same as the day he left however, this night there was a young boy about the age of 17 running through the nearby forest being chased by a pack of 12 rather large hellhounds. This was not a rare occurrence for demigods as monsters found their scent enticing and would often hunt them until they were safe at camp, but it was unusual for a single demigod to gain the attention of such a large number of powerful monsters. He was screaming as loud as he could whilst simultaneously trying not to fall over the plants and roots on the forest floor, he hoped that anyone nearby would come and save him, unfortunately there was nobody nearby but that didn't mean that no one heard him.

**In Zeus's Temple on Olympus**

Zeus's temple was remarkable, well of course it would be, it was designed by Annabeth. It was much larger than any other temple on Olympus due to the god's need to be better than everyone else, it only came in second due to the massive size of the throne room that was constructed to host the entire Olympian council.

Zeus sat in his temple observing Percy as he completed his quest, he was getting even more irritated by the young hero.

Zeus's POV

It was infuriating watching that stupid hero of Olympus come so close to death but always escaping while he was on that pointless quest of his. I sent as much monsters to attack him as I could without gaining the attention of the other gods, but it was never enough, I found myself becoming even angrier as the days past and his power seemed to increase.

I needed to find a way to kill Percy without angering the other gods, especially Hades and Hestia who have now developed a fondness of the young boy thanks to that sickly selfless request to give them thrones.

Wait, what is that annoying screaming, probably just another demigod trying to escape a weak little monster while travelling to camp. Well, I have nothing else to do, might as well watch this puny little demigod die.

Zeus looked down upon the 17-year-old demigod but found himself shocked that he was being chased by a pack of hellhounds, large hellhounds at that. The boy did not appear to be very strong as he showed no more than the average amount of muscle a mortal would have and he wasn't very tall either, no more than 5'10. He definitely wasn't a son of Aphrodite, but he wasn't ugly, well not that ugly, he didn't have any chiselled features and was not fat but not fit. He had short, messy black but I could not see his eyes.

Who is this young demigod and how has he survived these monsters so long, he should have died long ago. Maybe he is the tool that I can use to rid the world of Percy Jackson, even if he isn't, I need to know how he has survived and how powerful he is.

**In the forest**

3rd Person POV

The demigod was now close to camp half-blood but not close enough, the pack of hellhounds were extremely close to catching him and he was tiring from the endless running he had to do.

"AAAAAHHHHHH, HHHHEEEELLLLLLLPPPPP" is all he could scream but he could feel his throat seizing up, he knew that there was no hope for him so he might as well give up now and get his death over and done with.

He fell over a tree root that he was now too tired to vault, in the same second the pack of hellhounds surrounded him, the largest one (not as big as Mrs O'Leary but somewhat close) began to stalk him whilst snarling loudly, as if saying how he was going to painfully tear the young boy apart. Just as it was about to pounce at the demigod, there was a bright beam of light that landed between the two and with a roar of thunder, all of the monsters surrounding them were diminished to golden dust.

The boy now looked up after being forced to turn away due to the intensity of the light that appeared out of nowhere, what he saw shocked him, literally shocked him as electricity was being given off by a large man dressed in a white robe with what seemed like a lightning bolt in his hand. He now knew that his suspicions were correct, that the Greek gods were real, meaning he is a demigod, but he still had no idea why this god would come to his aid.

3rd Person / POV of 17-Year-Old Demigod

The man turned to face me, making himself tower over me as if to say that you are nothing but dirt beneath my feet then he actually spoke with a voice that could make thunder erupt from the clouds.

"Do you know who I am boy?"

I was now kneeling and bowing my head, avoiding all eye contact with the god whilst I was shaking uncontrollably but I managed to speak, even if it was almost incomprehensible.

"I…I.. I think so.. yyyourree Zeuss.."

Thunder filled the sky and the almighty god laughed

"You are truly pathetic, how on earth have you managed to survive as long as you have, being as weak as you are"

This made me angry, beyond angry but what can you do when the king of the gods insults you, I can't exactly punch him no matter how much I want to.

Zeus stopped laughing and glared at the demigod, as if contemplating killing him there and then but instead saw the anger in his eyes, his sea green eyes, but he also saw something else, a need for power that he could take advantage of.

"Tell me boy, do you know who your parent is, your godly parent and I know that you have one otherwise those monsters would not have been after you"

"I… I don't kknowww.. My mmmother nevverr told me about my fffatherr.."

My anger was still present, but it was now accompanied with curiosity as to why the king of the gods was interested in me and asking about my godly parent. He also seemed annoyed for whatever reason.

"Stop stuttering, you weak little boy unless you want me to kill you just as easily as I did those monsters"

I now stood up and glared at the god, I knew that I wouldn't stutter anymore but not because he told me to, because I was made even angrier by his insults, especially being called weak.

Before I managed to speak again, Zeus continued with his questioning, slowly becoming frustrated by the boy's lack of knowledge.

"You must be the son of a powerful god to be able to survive this long with your lack of skill. Because of your eye colour, I assume that you are the son of my older brother Poseidon"

This both shocked me and didn't because of how much sense it made. I loved being in or near water and would always feel safe near it. I was suddenly curious as to how Zeus would know this.

"Why do you assume that I am the son of Poseidon. I have not spoken of anything that would imply this"

This seemed to make Zeus very angry as he took a step towards me. I instinctively kneeled again and bowed my head to show him the respect he demanded.

"You are smart to fear me boy, the only reason you are alive is because you are showing me the respect that I deserve"

The king of the gods now spoke whilst walking around me in a circle.

"I believe that you are the son of my brother because he has another son who has the same eyes as you. This son is known as Percy Jackson and unlike you, is extremely powerful and considered the Hero of Olympus"

Zeus said this deliberately to see what the demigod's reaction would be, he was not disappointed by what he saw. The boy was now shaking again but not out of fear, instead it was out of anger. Zeus now wanted to know what was going through his head.

The demigod stayed kneeled down, bowing his head but he did not intend to show any respect. He was still because of the new anger that he now felt.

I don't believe that I have a brother that is stronger than me, I am the strongest demigod that has ever lived, and I will prove it to everyone. I will destroy this, Percy Jackson, and show everyone that he is nothing more than a weakling.

"I am stronger than this Percy Jackson, I am no weakling, I will show everyone what I can do"

I now looked at Zeus and was once again curious, he was not angry, instead he looked like he had finally found something that he has been searching for. This would have scared anyone else, but I was now being fuelled by the anger that I felt.

"You are not stronger than Percy Jackson, no demigod has ever been as powerful as him, but I believe that you can destroy him using other methods. I will assist you with this because I want him gone more than anyone, but it must be done strategically"

Hearing this gave me the confidence to stand and face the god, now knowing that he would not kill me because he needs me. My assumption was confirmed when he continued to talk.

"I have now alerted camp half-blood of a large pack of hellhounds chasing a boy near camp. They will be here any minute to find you with this small knife"

He threw a dagger to my feet which I picked up and admired.

"They will see that you have killed the hellhounds and you will be seen as a powerful demigod. My brother will then claim you and you will go to camp half-blood, the home of demigods and Percy Jackson"

Zeus now stopped and stared at the demigod. He could see the anger and hunger for power in his eyes but was not afraid that he would become powerful enough to threaten his crown.

"Then you will do everything in your power to destroy the hero's life. You will turn the camp against him, take away his friends, even turn the gods against him with assistance from me. His fatal flaw is loyalty and seeing that no one is loyal to him will break him. But first, you must swear on the River Styx to be loyal to me for as long as you live"

A devious smile crept along my face as I thought of destroying my brother and becoming the most powerful demigod of all time. I must do anything in my power to not only destroy him but break him.

I agreed to the king of the gods plan and condition, "I swear on the River Styx to be loyal to you, Zeus, as long as I live.", thunder could be heard over their heads before he continued to speak "I will destroy everything that my brother has ever known and break him so that I will become the most powerful demigod to have ever lived"

3rd Peron POV

The two now stood together in the forest discussing their next course of action when suddenly the sound of running and clashing metal could be heard approaching them. Without another word, the king of the gods disappeared leaving the demigod alone, surrounded by the remains of the hellhounds with only a dagger in his hand.

A group of 10 heavily armoured teenagers entered the area of the forest the boy was located in and they all took a step back seeing how he had defeated the monsters without even being hurt. The person who was most intrigued by the boy was a girl with blonde hair and grey eyes who stared at him as if she found her next prey.

The girl then approached the boy and spoke, still holding her own weapon, which was also a dagger, because she did not know what he was capable of.

"Who are you and what happened here?"

The boy turned to face the girl and the group when a light appeared above his head which was soon identified as a glowing green trident. The girl and the rest of the group bowed their heads all saying, "All hail the son of Poseidon".

The boy then walked over to the group, acting as if he was better than every single one of them and explained what had happened, how he killed the 12 hellhounds with only his dagger, not Zeus. Then the girl spoke again.

"Excuse me, but what is your name?"

The demigod now turned to face the girl, not acknowledging the group anymore and answered her question.

"Aiden, Aiden Shaw, son of Poseidon"

Then they all walked back to camp, being on guard for anymore monsters that may be nearby whilst also listening to Aiden talk about how he has killed so many monsters during his life time, all of which were lies. He was also observant enough to notice the smile that the grey eyed girl had on her face when he spoke, not yet knowing that this girl was spoken for by his greatest enemy.


	2. Chapter 2 - Nico's Suspicion

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Percy Jackson series, all rights belong to Rick Riordan**

**Chapter 2 – Nico's Suspicion**

_**2 Months Later**_

3rd Person POV

It had now been 3 months since Percy had disappeared to go on his quest for Athena's permission to marry Annabeth and 2 months since Aiden had been claimed by Poseidon and come to camp half-blood. In these two months, he had gained a following of campers who believed that he was some sort of all-powerful demigod because of the countless lies that they were being told, most of these campers were from the Ares cabin who thought that Aiden was better than Percy already. They appear to quickly forget everything what Percy had done for the camp and Olympus and how it was much more difficult and dangerous than anything Aiden has said that he had done.

For the rest of the campers, it was becoming very tiring listening to Aiden's bragging about how he was the best demigod to have ever lived. All of them knew that this statement was wrong and were waiting for Percy to come back and put him in his place, but they also knew that Percy would never do any such thing. That's what they all liked about him, even though he was much more powerful than any of them, he was incredibly humble and never went out of his way to make others feel bad.

Two campers that were arguably the most frustrated about the constant bragging were Thalia and Nico. They knew that Aiden would never be as powerful and loved as Percy, but they couldn't get that into his head. Each time that they would say this to him when they heard him bragging, he would only get angry and swear that he would challenge and beat Percy when that coward showed his face.

No one knew the details about Percy's quest except for Athena (obviously), Chiron and both of them (none of them know that Zeus found out) because he had asked them to make sure that Annabeth was alright when he couldn't. Little did he know that this request was difficult for Thalia, she had formed a crush on the hero during the war and the thought of him being married to someone else hurt, even if it was Annabeth. It was because of this that she didn't notice how friendly Annabeth had become with Aiden, she spent nearly every bit of time that she could with the guy and would always be laughing and touching his arm or hugging him. The only person to notice this and find it suspicious was Nico but he didn't say anything to anyone because everyone knew Annabeth and thought that she would never cheat on Percy, he instead resorted to mentioning Percy whenever he saw the two together in an effort to get Aiden to back off, but he never did.

It was just another day at camp, everyone was completing their daily chores and responsibilities, Chiron was training some campers, Will Solace (who happens to be Nico's boyfriend) was healing some campers who were injured due to a prank by the Stoll brothers, Thalia was in the woods practising her powers over lightning (she did this often after she left the hunters, you can probably guess why she left) and Nico was lounging about the Hades cabin waiting for her to be done.

Nico was getting bored and was about to go find Thalia when he heard a girl laugh and giggle from the direction of Athena cabin. Any other day he would have ignored it thinking that an Aphrodite girl was making out with another camper but he was already on edge after seeing Annabeth with Aiden earlier in the day so he decided that he would go find out what the girl was doing. As he went to turn the corner to where he thought the giggle came from, he heard another laugh, but he now recognised this laugh and hoped that he wasn't about to see something that he would regret.

Instead of walking around the corner, he decided to travel through the shadows using his powers, who new that the children of Hades had the powers to be so sneaky… ok… everyone knew but it didn't mean that they could stop them. Nico stayed in the shadows so that he was hidden and could get away fast if he needed to but what he saw left him frozen in place. He was right about his assumption that the laugh belonged to Annabeth but was stunned to see her arm locked around Aiden's. He couldn't hear what the two were talking about from where he was forced to hide but he managed to hear the tail end of their meeting.

They had both gotten up and Annabeth was complaining about how she had to go check up on the Athena cabin, "I wish I didn't have to babysit my silly siblings, they are supposed to be smart for Zeus sake".

They both laughed at this statement, a bit more than they should have considering that it wasn't funny at all then they both stopped as she spoke again, "Well I guess I'll come see you later, where we usually meet? By the beach?".

Aiden nodded to this and Annabeth gave him a lingering kiss on his cheek. Nico almost jumped out right there and then to confront her but decided against it thinking that there was an explanation to what she was doing. He then left to go find Thalia, just like he had previously planned so that he could tell her what he saw and decide what they should do.

Nico's POV 

I raced back towards my cabin and saw that Thalia was now outside waiting for me, I guess she finished her training and she did not look happy in the slightest. I debated turning around and going somewhere else but then I remembered what I needed to tell her about. As I approached her, she was sending sparks out of her hand and I winced having remembered how painful her shocks were but continued hoping that she wasn't mad because of me, but my luck isn't that good.

"Where have you been death breath?! I thought you said you were going to wait for me in your cabin because you didn't want to be electrocuted when I trained", small arcs of electricity shot towards me as she spoke.

"Yeh about that, I was in my cabin but got bored so was actually going to come find you". I nervously ran my hand through the back of my hair, knowing that the excuse would not spare me a few shocks.

Thalia was now calmer than she was but was still shooting electricity towards me until she suddenly stopped and stared at me, she must know that something is wrong. I guess that's what you get when you share everything with each other.

She started to look worried and dragged me into the dark Hades cabin by my arm, closing the doors behind us so that no one could hear us talk, it was a good thing that Hades didn't care about other demigod children entering his cabin. She sat us both down on my bed before waiting for me to confess what was wrong, it was pointless denying anything because she would just electrocute me every time I tried so I decided to tell her the truth.

"You know its quite scary that you are able to know when something is wrong or troubling me"

This statement was accompanied with the most nervous laughter that I could possibly imagine which only caused her to look more worried, she continued to stare into my eyes with her electric blue ones until I told her what was wrong.

"There's something that I have to tell you, but you cannot tell anyone, not yet, not until we are sure about what is going on"

She nodded, probably afraid to talk thinking that I would find some way out of this. She still stared straight into my eyes, it was unnerving but also quite comforting.

"I've been suspicious of Annabeth for a while now, even before Percy left and I can't shake this feeling that something bad is happening, she has been distant for a while"

Now she looked confused and after a little while, she finally said something to me.

"What do you mean, Annabeth hasn't done anything wrong, especially to Percy. Have you forgotten that he has gone to… to get permission to marry her?", I could see how challenging it was for her to say that, she really likes Percy.

"I think you might be worrying about nothing Nico, I've known her for years, she wouldn't do anything to hurt Percy, why would she, he treats her like a queen...", she trailed off towards the end of her sentence, I knew that she wanted Percy to treat her like that but she would never say it.

I admit that I was now slightly frustrated, this was why I never told anyone, I knew that they wouldn't believe me because they all saw Annabeth as this perfect girl, but I knew that something was going on.

"You don't understand Thals, I've seen the way she has been acting towards other guys for months, now she won't leave that idiot Aiden alone then I saw her and him…" I trailed off, worried that she would think I was lying but she caught me.

"You caught them doing what Nico? Tell me or I will shock you so hard that your soul will leave your body"

Now Thalia looked scary, like, I will kill you scary. Her eyes lost all comforting feelings which were replaced by an intense fire and her whole body was starting to emit a small but increasing number of sparks. She also moved closer, almost pinning me against my headboard so that I couldn't escape, not even into the shadows.

"I will ask you one more time before I start shocking it out of you death breath, what did you catch them doing?"

I sighed, knowing that I would have to tell her or risk her doing something far worse than killing me.

"When I came out of the cabin to come find you, I heard a girl laugh and giggle, so I decided to go find out who it was. When I got closer, I heard the girl laugh again and this time I knew that it was Annabeth so I went into the shadows so that I could see what she was doing without her seeing me…"

I had now paused so that I could see whether Thalia was ok, I could see that she was starting to think of all the possible endings to the story and making herself angry, but she just took in a deep breath and spoke. "Continue Nico, I will be fine, I need to know what happened"

I hesitantly finished the story, being careful to recall everything exactly as I saw it so that she wouldn't get too angry.

"When I got to a place where I could see her, I saw that she was sat with her arm locked around Aiden's, talking and laughing too much than she should have been. Then when she got up to leave, she told him that she would meet him where they usually meet… by the beach and she left after kissing him on the cheek"

Thalia was now red with anger, she no longer questioned whether or not Annabeth would do this, she knew that I could never lie to her. She began to get up and stomp towards the door of the cabin, but I grabbed her arm and was sent flying towards the wall by a powerful shock of electricity. Wow… I forgot how much that hurt.

She instantly turned around and ran towards me, desperately exclaiming how sorry she was and how she didn't mean to do it which I of course already knew so I wasn't angry with her at all. I pulled myself up so that I was resting on my elbows and she sat on the floor next to me, still red with anger but calmer than she was a minute ago, I guess electrocuting me allowed her to let out some of her anger, I just wish that it didn't have to be so painful.

"We can't do anything about it yet Thals, we don't know what is actually happening so we can't storm up to her and make a massive deal out of this"

Thalia nodded, fully understanding why we couldn't walk up to her and accuse her of something that we had no proof about, so we figured that we had to go find some.

"We need to find some proof that will tell us what she is doing, and I think I know where we can find it. We need to go to the beach when they meet up to see what they are doing but we can't let them see us or they might act differently"

Thalia instantly agreed, I could see in her eyes that she wouldn't rest until she found out what was going on and I knew that I wouldn't either.

"You're right Nico, we need a plan to find out what is happening, a smart one"

We both then spent the next few hours coming up with a strategic plan to spy on Annabeth and Aiden without them finding us. The time flew by and we finally decided what we should do to catch her in the act if anything was going on. We both got up and left the cabin, it was almost time for dinner and soon after that, we would need to keep a close eye on Annabeth to follow her and start the plan.


	3. Chapter 3 - An Unbelievable Betrayal

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Percy Jackson series, all rights belong to Rick Riordan**

**Chapter 3 – An Unbelievable Betrayal**

Thalia's POV

The conch horn sounded, signifying that it was time for dinner, so everyone made their way towards the dining pavilion. The atmosphere of the pavilion was the same as it usually was, very loud, people shouting to their friends at other tables and others laughing while talking to their siblings. Its amazing that the pavilion is even large enough for everyone to fit in, especially when they are acting absolutely crazy. Nico and I quickly made our way to the hades table so that we could watch for Annabeth and Aiden, and as expected, they both entered the pavilion together and they both sat down at the Poseidon table and continued talking. This could be a problem, we both knew that Hades didn't care about me sitting at his table or being in his cabin, but we didn't know what Poseidon would think or do to someone sitting at his table. It was considered extremely disrespectful to sit at other god's tables and Annabeth knew this.

I could see that the other children of Athena were confused as to why their cabin leader wasn't sitting with them, some were whispering while others wore disgusted facial expressions when they saw who she was sat with. Malcolm, the second in command of the Athena cabin seemed to be the most confused and annoyed, especially annoyed. He got up from where he was sat and started to walk towards us, probably thinking that we would know what was going on, which we did but we couldn't tell him.

"Hey guys, what's up with Annabeth? She's supposed to be sitting with us and she knows that she isn't supposed to sit at other god's tables, especially with people like him" he said gesturing to Aiden.

I gave Nico a quick glance to see if he understood that we shouldn't say anything yet, not before we find out what is actually going on, he nodded and started eating as if Malcolm wasn't even there. It's good that he understood me, but he still could've helped me with this situation. After a little pause, in which I was looking at Annabeth and Aiden laughing with each other, I finally came up with something to tell Malcolm, something that would hopefully satisfy him until we can tell him what is actually going on.

"I'm not completely sure Malcolm, I think that she is explaining to him how he is annoying some of the campers and that he should probably tone his bragging down a little. You know it must be annoying for her since he is Percy's half-brother and she knows more than anyone how wrong his statements are"

Malcolm looked back over to the two in question, probably contemplating whether or not what I told him was true, sometimes I hate how smart the Athena children are, well, some of them.

"You're probably right Thalia, I know for a fact that Aiden has been getting on my siblings nerves. She better not make a habit out of this though, who knows what could happen"

I gave him a fake smile, luckily this wasn't unusual for me, I didn't go out of my way to smile at people very often, so people saw my fake smile a lot and probably thought it was my real one. He just shrugged and walked back to his table to repeat what I told him. After another glance towards the Poseidon table I turned to face Nico who was now eating his portion of fruit. He is absolutely useless sometimes.

"Thanks for the help by the way"

He looked up from his plate and gave his usual cheeky smile that showed he was happy with himself. Not many people got to see his smile either, only me and Percy got to see it a lot, but others would see it every so often, Will being one of those people since Nico was dating him. We both turned back towards Annabeth and Aiden who were now laughing even louder than before, I can't believe she is acting like this, I've heard his type of humour, it wouldn't even make a clown laugh. Nico seemed to be thinking the same thing as he started aggressively stabbed his steak, it made me feel bad for the cow.

After a minute or two Nico gave me a quick jab in my side to gain my attention, I must have been too caught up in my last thought, stupid cows. The jab was followed up by another, this one was a little harder than the initial one, I guess he wanted my attention, not just to snap me out of my thoughts.

"What Nico, those jabs actually hurt a little"

He recoiled at my statement, unquestionably afraid that I was about to retaliate with some form of electric attack, that made me chuckle.

"Sorry Thals, you were kinda zoned out. I was just saying that Annabeth is as close to Aiden as she can get without being on top of him, and we're not the only ones who have noticed this"

He gestured back towards the Athena cabin who were all whispering to each other, except for the few that were obviously replying to their whispering siblings. They were saying things like 'she would never do that' and 'she is still dating Percy'. Malcolm wasn't joining in with the rumours, instead, he was looking over to us, I say looking, he was actually glaring. I guess he no longer believes what I told him.

Everyone was interrupted by a sudden shout from Chiron and the dining pavilion quickly became silent so that everyone could hear what the centaur had to say.

"Hello everyone, its good to see that you are all happy and getting along with each other…" I swear I saw a quick glance towards the Ares cabin with this statement, "I have some announcements to make, the first one being to the newer members of the camp, if you leave the large hellhound known as Mrs O'Leary alone then she will not chase you"

All of the senior members of the camp basically fell to the floor laughing after this announcement while the campers that it applied to were looking distressed. I guess having an enormous hellhound walking around camp wasn't normal for them just yet. I couldn't see Nico anymore because of the tears in my eyes from laughing so hard but I think I could hear him laughing as well, we were laughing for so long that we didn't notice that Chiron was almost at the end of the announcements. We didn't really care either as we basically knew everything that went on at camp, but the last announcement caught our attention.

"Lastly, the sword training will continue to be conducted by Clarisse until further notice as the normal trainer, Percy Jackson, has yet to return from his quest"

The dining pavilion was over taken by whispers, a rumour was quickly sent around saying that Percy must be dead, if I had to make a guess I would say that it originated from the Ares cabin. Soon enough everyone was discussing this new rumour, many were saying that it was impossible because of how powerful Percy is while others were taking the opportunity to attack him, the main culprits being Aiden and his followers.

"I told you guys, Percy is weak compared to me. I knew that the coward would die on his stupid quest, I bet it was something even a mortal could have done with ease". His followers erupted with laughter and agreement but all I could look at was Annabeth. She wasn't even trying to deny the statements, she was actually laughing with the morons.

Many of the other campers were also looking on in disbelief, Malcolm and Clarisse looked like someone had died, like they didn't recognise the person that was occupying Annabeth's body anymore. Malcolm definitely didn't belief what I told him now.

I suddenly felt the pavilion get darker, I looked around and saw shadows starting to creep in and devour the light, they were never ending. I gave Nico a quick static shock to snap him out of his rage, I was so focused on what everyone else was doing that I didn't notice him going red with anger at the rumour and accusations being made towards Percy. He gave a little yelp of pain due to the shock and then noticed what he was doing, he quickly got rid of the shadows before anyone else noticed and thanked me for snapping him out of whatever that was.

"It's ok Nico, I'm as angry as you are right now but we can't do anything rash, even if I do want to strike them all with lightning until they take it all back"

He gave a small laugh, I could tell that he was having a hard time with Percy being gone, similar to me but in more of a missing your big brother sense. They are really close, I think Percy somewhat fills the void that Bianca left. I knew that Percy wasn't dead, I could feel it, or I at least hope that I would feel if something bad happened to him, I know that we have that kind of connection.

Chiron shouted again, instructing everyone to head towards the campfire. Everyone started to get up and go, most people were still talking about Percy while others were actually listening to Aiden's followers, don't tell me that they are starting to believe them, there's only so many idiots that I can put up with.

I then turned my attention back towards Annabeth who was whispering something into Aiden's ear. She is really starting to piss me off now, how can she be acting like this when she knows that it would break Percy's heart, does she not even care anymore? Aiden smiled and nodded which was followed by Annabeth grabbing his hand and dragging him away from the crowd. I tried to follow them, but they ran around a corner and were gone, I can't believe I lost them. I walked back to where Nico was to explain what happened, they were smart to use the crowd as a distraction.

"I don't know where they've gone Nico, I was following them then they just vanished. They were heading towards the cabins, but they would be found there, I have no idea where they would go"

Confusion came over me as I saw Nico shake his head and roll his eyes, I was obviously missing something… oh, I'm such a massive idiot. How did I forget that, I guess with everything that went on it completely slipped my mind.

"They're heading towards the beach, that's where they were sneaking off to! I can't believe I forgot that!"

Nico was laughing, I hate it when he remembers or knows stuff that I don't, its like when your younger brother understands a joke that you don't.

"Come on Thals, I know you must be tired, but we need to catch up to them"

See what I mean, when he knows that he's caught me out he is almost unbearable. I gave him a little shock that got him to quickly refocus on the task at hand, he then shadow travelled us towards the beach so that our plan could start. Tonight, I will find out what is going on, one way or another.

* * *

Annabeth's POV

Sneaking away from the campfire was strangely exhilarating, I never thought doing something like this would give me such an adrenaline rush. I don't feel any guilt or shame and I'm not even worried about being caught, what would they even do to me, I have partial immortality and am with the most powerful demigod that I've ever seen. Maybe that's why I feel like this, because I'm with Aiden, I think I could actually be falling for him.

We continued to run off towards the beach, I grasped his hand as if I was dangling over Tartarus and practically dragging him along the floor because of how alive I felt. He looked like he was having just as much fun as I was which made me smile even more than I already was. The beach was deserted when we arrived, obviously because everyone was at the campfire and didn't dare skip it, wimps. The smell of the sea combined with the feeling of the breeze on my face made me feel refreshed, like I had just woken up from the best night's sleep possible. The sea was perfectly calm, no waves could be seen anywhere allowing it to shine beautifully under the gaze of the full moon in the cloudless sky. The light reflected from the water lit up the beach in a way that made it look like it was one of those carefully designed beaches from a cliché love film, adding to my feeling of astonishment. It would have been a great night to be alone and sit on the soft sand, combing my toes through it, pondering the events of the day, but because I was with Aiden, I had a feeling it would be more than a great night.

"I can't believe that we're doing this, I would never do anything like this normally, I'm too much of a good girl"

I smirked while saying this, hoping to get a reaction out of Aiden which I definitely did. He stopped and pulled me down onto the sand so that I barely missed falling directly on top of him, much to my dismay, and we both ended up laying on our backs laughing like we were just normal teenagers without a care in the world. He then got up slightly so that he was leant over me while resting on his left elbow, his beautiful black hair shining in the moonlight and his sea green eyes staring straight into mine.

"You know, you don't look like much of good girl right now. You look like you just snuck out of your house to meet up with a boy that your parents don't approve off"

Another smile crept its way along my lips, what is it about him that makes me feel like this?

I was now sitting up, facing the sea, trying to figure out my emotions and eagerly waiting for him to talk again, his voice was enchanting and smooth unlike anything I had heard before. After a little pause, I decided to speak so that he wouldn't get bored and leave, would he even do that?

"Dinner was a bit crazier than normal tonight, don't you think? Especially after I sat with you and the announcements"

Aiden was now staring across the sea instead of hungrily staring at me, this made me a little annoyed then I wondered what this night actually felt like for him. Sure, it made me feel amazing but with him being the son of Poseidon I imagine the sea and the breeze made him feel incredible, I wonder if I make him feel the same way that he makes me feel. This flawless image of him was then disrupted when he responded.

"I'm not sure, it seemed like everyone was just as crazy as they usually are, but I guess you would know better than me since you've been here longer. I did notice that there was an increased amount of rumours going around though", he turned and smirked at me this time, a handsome smirk.

My cheeks reddened but I was unable to turn away from him. "I heard a lot of my siblings talking about us. I wonder what reasoning they came up with to justify me sitting with you, they think I'm perfect so they definitely wouldn't think that I sat with you just because I wanted to"

Aiden shrugged in response, I could tell that he didn't care what others thought about him. He only cared if they said that he was great and powerful, not if they were trying to tell him that he's not, I admire him for that. He knows what he is and won't let anyone else tell him otherwise.

"I heard a lot of them mention my weak little half-brother, they still seem to think that he's this incredible hero. None of them see that I am much more powerful than he ever was, I don't even believe that he did anything that they've told me about. I hope he is dead on that quest of his, then everyone will see what I mean!"

The mention of Percy in such a way should have angered me, I am his girlfriend but for some reason I see what he means. Everyone at camp thinks Percy is the strongest demigod to have ever lived even though most of the time it wasn't him who did the stuff in the stories. I was with him for almost every single quest and I did so much more than he ever did but I didn't get nearly as much attention. Then he has the nerve to ignore that attention as if it's nothing!

"You're right Aiden, Percy is weak, all that stuff that people say he has done is a lie, he was always surrounded by people like me and Thalia and we ended up doing nearly everything! He wasn't even the one to defeat Kronos in the first place, Luke did! Then he gets given all of the credit and acts all humble, ruining the opportunity to get the praise that I deserve"

"I thought you were his girlfriend? Aren't you supposed to defend him?", an even larger smirk appeared on his face than before, "Anyway, he doesn't deserve someone like you. How did he ever trick you into caring for him, how did he trick anyone into caring for him?"

I had to think for a moment when he asked me this. I have no idea how I ever cared for Percy, sure he acted like he would do anything for anyone, but it was never actually him doing anything, he was useless without me. That must have been it, I pitied him, he made everyone pity him, even the gods. I never actually cared for the weak son of Poseidon.

"I never did care for Percy, he just made me pity him Aiden. He is so weak that I felt like I had to help him, and I guess he just managed to manipulate me into going out with him. It worked for a little bit but then I just used him to get attention, like I deserve but then he acts humble and I loses it! It was never his to lose!"

The anger that I now felt towards the fraud son of Poseidon was the most anger that I had ever felt. I now see everything that Aiden has been saying about him to be true. I didn't even realise that I was digging my hands into the sand until Aiden grabbed them in his, I instantly calmed down physically, but my anger increased which I didn't even think was possible. How could someone as weak as Percy get all the praise when Aiden is so powerful and everything that a hero should be! From his stories everyone should be able to see that he has done so much more than Percy and that he deserves their praise!

"Calm down Annabeth, I'll prove to everyone how weak Percy is if he ever comes back to camp. I'll beat him in everything that he does and show everyone that I am the most powerful demigod to have ever walked the Earth!"

He explained this while displaying his control over the sea, it was no longer perfectly still instead it had large waves crashing into each other. I could see the concentration on his face telling me that it was difficult to do, this just proves even further that Percy is a fake. He could never control the sea like he does without cheating if it took Aiden this much energy and focus! I was so caught up in this thought and anger that I didn't notice him stop and turn to speak again.

"I take it this means that you're going to break up with him if he comes back"

This was more of a statement than a question, but it was true. I felt no positive emotions towards Percy Jackson and I now realise that I never did, I only used him for the attention that he was given.

"You're right Aiden, I am going to break up with Percy Jackson. I like someone else much better than him anyway, someone who is much more powerful, someone who will correctly use the praise that they get, someone who is exactly like me"

I crawled closer to Aiden while he was smiling widely at what I had just said. I have no regrets whatsoever for what I am about to do.

I stopped within an inch of his face and looked into his beautiful sea green eyes, eyes that were brighter and clearer than Percy's. He smiled again then I leant in and kissed him. The kiss was incredible, it was as if nothing else existed and it was only us. My lips fitted perfectly into his and the kiss went deeper than anything that I have ever experienced. I knew in this moment that I had never really kissed anyone before because none of my previous kisses felt anywhere near as good as this. He seemed to be thinking the same as he let out a little moan in pleasure. In that moment, I knew for sure that I didn't and never did love Percy Jackson.

This moment was perfect, I wanted it to last forever but of course knowing my luck, the moment didn't stand a chance.

3rd Person POV

The air around the couple suddenly became aggressive, almost dragging the two away from each other, then there was a loud bang as if someone had struck something with a whip. This caused the pairs attention to be dragged away from each other and Annabeth quickly grabbed Aiden and pulled him out of the way of a large projectile. If you hadn't been watching there was no chance that you would have seen what it was but for those with a keen eye, you could clearly identify the projectile as a lightning bolt.

Annabeth was recovering from the quick roll she had to do with Aiden, she had ended up landing on top of him this time and didn't know whether to be angry or grateful to the person who had tried to kill them. She settled on angry when she finally realised what it was that was thrown and who by. She looked up and saw a very pissed off Thalia stomping towards them with Nico trying to catch up to her.

Thalia's face was the reddest anyone's face could ever be, redder than a ripe tomato but what showed that she was extremely angry was the blue sparks that were flying off of her in all directions. Now Annabeth knew that she should be scared but her pride wouldn't allow it, instead she stood up and started shouting at the quickly approaching storm.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOURE DOING! THAT COULD HAVE KILLED US YOU BITCH!"

You wouldn't think it was possible, but Thalia's face went even redder, no one should be within a mile of her right now, not even a god. This was even more evident when she started yelling.

"HOW DARE YOU CALL ME A BITCH YOU DISGRACEFUL, PITIFUL, SORRY EXCUSE FOR A DEMIGOD! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOURE DOING? YOU KNOW THAT PERCY DESERVES ALL OF THE ATTENTION THAT HE GETS BECAUSE HE IS THE ONE WHO COMPLETED ALL THOSE QUESTS AND TASKS, NOT YOU! HOW DARE YOU TRY TAKE CREDIT FOR IT ALL, HOW DARE YOU CHEAT ON HIM!"

Nico had now caught up to Thalia and was using his own strength and his powers of the surrounding shadows to slow her down to prevent her from killing the couple. Now don't get the idea that he isn't angry, he would very much like to open a fissure and allow it to swallow Annabeth and Aiden, but he knew that it would cause a lot of trouble. He instead chose to stop Thalia from doing something that would ruin her life.

He was succeeding in preventing her from getting close to the couple until Annabeth decided to open her stupid mouth again, how can a daughter of Athena be so stupid he thought.

"I don't know what you're talking about Thals, I'm just at the beach with my boyfriend, enjoying the beautiful view. You're the one who decided to interrupt us for no reason whatsoever." She said this with a noticeable smirk on her face, but she meant to do it, to anger Thalia even more.

There were even more sparks coming off of Thalia now, the sand around her was burning when they reached the floor, but she couldn't throw any more lightning, not because she didn't want to but because Nico had strategically placed himself between her and the cheater.

"I SWEAR TO GOD NICO, GET OUT OF MY WAY SO THAT I CAN KILL THEM BOTH!"

The words thundered throughout the air as if her dad had thrown his own master bolt, but Nico still didn't move, partly because the electric Thalia was giving off had paralysed him where he stood.

"No Thals, you need to calm down before you get yourself in trouble. They are not worth your time, she has made her choice, an incredibly stupid choice but its too late to take back now!", Nico made sure to turn and look into Annabeth's eyes as he spoke the end of his sentence.

Something everyone knew about Nico was that he gave off an aura of death and fear that caused everyone to be afraid of him, but he learnt to control it and reduce it so that he wouldn't make the other campers uncomfortable. However, this situation had made him so angry that he allowed his full aura to be felt, Thalia was too angry to feel it, but Annabeth and Aiden could. They had started to back away from him slowly with looks of absolute terror on their faces, Aiden looked like he had actually died because of how pale he had gone, he even stepped behind Annabeth for protection, but she wasn't much better.

After a minute or so, Nico gained control of his emotions and reduced his aura to what it was normally but the damage to the couple was already done. They now truly feared Nico and what he was capable of, so much for Aiden being the most powerful demigod.

Thalia had now calmed down slightly to the point where she could speak again, instead of just wanting to electrocute them where they stood.

"YOU NEVER DESERVED PERCY, ANNABETH. HE IS EVERYTHING THAT PEOPLE SHOULD ASPIRE TO BE AND YOURE THE COMPLETE OPPOSITE!"

Annabeth, recovered from her fear-stricken paralysis but not daring to look at Nico, smirked at Thalia, so much for realising that she should be afraid.

"I deserve everything that I get Thals. I'm the hero of Olympus, if it wasn't for my constant guidance and knowledge, the stupid fraud son of Poseidon would have died long ago. I deserve the attention of everyone, and the gods and Aiden here will help us get it. He is after all the most powerful demigod and so much better than Percy, I can tell that just from that kiss"

The way in which she calmly spoke this infuriated both Thalia and Nico but also seemed to bring Aiden back to the land of the living. He had just been standing behind Annabeth listening to the confrontation between the ex-friends.

"You know she's right guys, I'm so much better than my stupid brother. Just admit it now then I won't have to prove it to you later and waste us all time", the smirk he wore could make anyone want to punch him in his hideous face.

"YOU ARE NOTHING COMPARED TO PERCY! HE COULD BEAT YOU WITHIN A SECOND, YOUR CONTROL OVER THE SEA IS SO LITTLE COMPARED TO WHAT HE CAN DO. YOU NEED TO JUST FACE THE FACT THAT YOU ARE WEAK AND WILL NEVER BE ANYWHERE NEAR POWERFUL!"

Thalia managed to yell all of this without even pausing to breathe, the anger that she felt was unparalleled with anything that was alive or anything in the underworld. She was getting ready to throw another bolt of lightning but was stopped when Nico put his hand on her shoulder.

Aiden took this chance to try show her that she was wrong and that he was even more powerful than either of them. He had slowly started to draw in the sea towards them to attack them in the most dishonourable way he could imagine but he wasn't even smart enough to accomplish this.

Nico had quickly noticed what he was doing an had used his powers over the shadows to push the water back down the beach and kept doing so to prevent it from coming anywhere near them. The look of concentration and the rage on Aiden's face gave him the greatest feeling of accomplishment that he could experience in this situation.

"That shows just how weak you are Aiden, I would never be able to prevent Percy from drawing the sea towards us, he would have drenched and beaten me by now but preventing you is a walk in the park"

Aiden's face was red with anger towards the son of Hades and so was Annabeth's. She couldn't believe that he dared to insult her boyfriend right in front of her like she wasn't there but then he turned towards her and the fear she previously felt came rushing back.

"I'm disgusted just looking at you Annabeth, I thought you were one of the good ones, but I guess I was wrong. I've seen you trying it on with other guys for months, but they were all smart enough to stay as far away from you as possible!"

Just before Aiden was able to try say something in reply to the harsh words spoken to his new girlfriend, Thalia had started to once again conduct electricity and was preparing to shoot it at the couple after quietly listening to the exchanges. Nico wasn't in any position to stop her now as he had taken a few steps out of her way, thinking that she had calmed down, but he was wrong. Luckily for them all, the sound of heavy footsteps came charging towards them and Chiron arrived looking less than pleased with the rest of the cabin leaders.

"What are you children doing away from the campfire! You guys are supposed to be setting an example to the other campers and what on earth was that lightning bolt!"

* * *

**Campfire – 10 Minutes Earlier**

Chiron's POV 

I was looking around the campfire for Thalia and Nico, I needed to talk to them concerning Percy. I was very worried that he hadn't come back from his quest yet and I was going to ask them whether or not we should send someone to look for him, knowing that if anyone would want to go, it would be them two.

I looked around the entire campfire twice and they were nowhere to be found, neither was Annabeth and that new camper, Aiden. I don't like that kid at all, for being Percy's half-brother he is as far from him as he could get. He was arrogant, self-centred, boastful and much more, it absolutely disgusts me but whenever anyone says something, it has no effect.

Anyway, is was unusual that Thalia, Nico and Annabeth would sneak away from the campfire, they never broke rules unless it was necessary like sneaking off on a quest to save the world, what if they are in trouble!

As if on cue, a large lightning strike could be heard from the beach, why can't those children ever tell me when something is wrong. I sighed at this thought but was forced to quickly recover when the campers started to panic and grab their weapons.

"EVERYONE STAY WHERE YOU ARE! You will all stay here while me and the cabin leaders go find out what that was. All senior campers protect the perimeter of the campfire and the younger campers. Cabin leaders follow me to the beach"

We quickly made our way towards the beach, ready for a fight if that is what we were running into. What could have made its way into camp and how? The minotaur? A hellhound? I guess we'll find out when we get there.

As we approached the beach, I could see the four who were missing from the campfire but there was no monster, I guess they could have killed it but there was no dust anywhere to signify that a monster was even present. Thalia and Nico stood next to each facing Annabeth and Aiden, but both of their faces looked like they had just seen their worst enemy, what has just happened here? Guess I'm just going to have to find out.

"What are you children doing away from the campfire! You guys are supposed to be setting an example to the other campers and what on earth was that lightning bolt!"

3rd Person POV

Before Thalia could speak, Nico quickly answered not wanting to give Annabeth any of the attention that she craved so much. The way he saw it, they shouldn't let anyone know what happened here today so that she couldn't get any attention because of it.

"Nothing is going on Chiron, nothing at all, we are all just fine. Thalia and I were just about to leave"

As soon as he finished talking, he grabbed Thalia's hand and shadow travelled them away but after a couple of minutes, another lightning strike could be heard from the forest.

Chiron, now incredibly confused and slightly worried turned towards the two that were left. He quickly noticed that they were holding hands but decided not to say anything, he was one of the people who saw Annabeth as a perfect person because he knew her for so long.

"You two get back to the campfire now! I will talk to you later after I gain some idea of what happened here today. The rest of you head back with them"

He had almost forgotten that the rest of the cabin leaders had come with him, expecting to have to fight a monster or two. Instead they had just stood there, silent as a mouse watching the scene just as Chiron had. They all started to head back towards the campfire and Chiron once again noticed that Annabeth and Aiden were walking while holding hands.

Now he started to think about what could've gotten Thalia and Nico so clearly enraged but he didn't think that Annabeth was capable of something like that. He once again elected to say nothing and heard yet another lightning strike from the forest, then he too headed back towards the campfire thinking about what had just occurred.


	4. Chapter 4 - The Warning

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Percy Jackson series, all rights belong to Rick Riordan**

**Chapter 4 – The Warning**

_**3 Months Later (6 Months after Percy Left for his Quest)**_

Percy's POV

**Death Valley National Park, California**

California, why do I always end up in stupid California? The fates must absolutely hate me for whatever reason, its not like I've saved the world twice, but they obviously don't care about that enough to give me any kind of break. I have been away from camp for about six months due to the quest from Athena, but it feels so much longer. I guess its probably because its been so long since I've seen or even talked to any of my friends, what I wouldn't give to be able to see even one of them but no, I can't use a phone because I'm a demigod and I lost all of my money when my backpack was ripped from my back by a Dracaena. Just my luck. I bet Nico and Thalia are using this time to train so that they can try beat me when I get back, that seems like something they'd do, and Annabeth… oh Annabeth… I miss her so much it is physically hurting my heart. I just hope that she isn't mad at me, I didn't think that this quest would take nearly this long, I probably should have told her why I was leaving. I just want to get this over and done with as soon as possible so that I can get back to them.

The annoying thing about this quest is that I might as well have had a phone with me because it seems like any monsters within a ten-mile radius have no problem finding me, its really strange how many of them I've met travelling here. I've been attacked by almost every single monster that you could ever think of; it feels like I've even killed some of them multiple times, but I knew that was highly unlikely, it must have just been my paranoia. What…? you would start to get paranoid too when you are attacked every other hour, I don't even have enough time to rest because every time I seem to be in the clear, another hellhound or another cyclops comes at me from out of nowhere.

Anyway, I might be closer to the end of this quest than I thought I was. I've been tracking a group of monsters that have grouped together for some reason, Athena seems to think that they could be a threat because these monsters are very powerful, so instead of notifying Artemis who should really be the one hunting them down, she told me to do it to prove myself, how fun. I just found a group of trees that have been snapped in half like toothpicks, I'm pretty sure that the only thing in this park strong enough to do that would be a monster.

I caught site of them once in Missouri but lost them just as quickly, they didn't even try to fight me which only caused me to be even more on guard than I previously was, this confusion is probably what allowed them to escape. I had a very good reason for reacting like that though, one of the monsters travelling in the group is my old friend the Minotaur and he attacks me every chance he gets, I don't blame him though, I have that effect on people… well monsters anyway. When I saw that he had no intention of attacking me, I became extremely suspicious and started looking everywhere I could to see if something else was about to ambush me, but nothing came, they just left for some reason, so I had to track them all the way to California. I managed to see some of the other monsters that were with him as well, but I didn't pay much attention to them, I saw the Nemean Lion and the Lernaean Hydra but there could have been more. I am not looking forward to fighting these lot, for all I care let them do whatever they want, but if I don't do it, I can't propose to Annabeth and that is not an option.

Quietly rummaging through some bushes, I came to the edge of a clearing that had a stream running through it, the trees around the edge weren't very tall but they were completely covered in leaves meaning that no one could see into the clearing if they weren't directly on the edge. The ground seemed to be relatively level which was good because I could see the entire clearing and there was only short grass, this area would be ideal for a fight, nothing can get in the way. As that thought came into mind, I looked towards the stream and saw the Minotaur and the Nemean Lion drinking while the Hydra stood about 100 metres away chasing birds that flew out of the nearby trees. Then I noticed another monster at the far side of the clearing, it was concealed behind the Nemean Lion and a few large bushes. When it moved I quickly identified the monster as the Lydian Drakon, I really need to discuss with the fates why they hate me so much.

Now that I've finally found the group, I need somewhat of a plan to take them down. I really wish Annabeth was here, she'd make a plan that would never fail unless I messed it up somehow where as my plan would normally include charging in and hoping for the best, but that would definitely not work in this situation. So, four very powerful monsters that can kill me almost instantly, the Minotaur will be relatively easy as he should charge me as soon as he sees me and get his horns stuck in a tree when I dodge, then I'll be able to kill him with no problems, he's not very smart, but the other monsters will be much harder. My advantage is the stream, I need the water to give me strength and even the slightest possibility of success against them, I might be able to take down both the Nemean Lion and the Drakon with the water because of how close they are but then again I might not. I think should prioritise the Lion because of his impenetrable pelt and deal with the Drakon later, if I don't take it out fast then the fight will be ten times harder. That leaves the Lydian Drakon and the Lernaean Hydra, but by this time they will have coordinated and will probably attack me together, I need to figure out a way to separate them and deal with them individually…

Shit! Guess I'll have to figure it out when I come to it, I can't let them escape again!

3rd Person POV

While Percy had been creating his plan in the bushes at the edge of the clearing, the Minotaur had finished drinking from the stream and it looked like the rest were almost finished as well, meaning that they were about to leave. Percy knew that he had to fight them here where he could use the stream to give him a much-needed advantage, so he quickly started his plan and it went without a problem, well the parts he planned did at least.

The water in the stream suddenly shot up into the Nemean Lions mouth and simultaneously froze into a long and very sharp spike. From Percy's previous encounter with the Lion, he knew that his mouth was one of his weak spots, so he had to make use of it being exposed while it was drinking. The spike quickly stabbed through the Lion's throat and it dissolved into golden dust after letting out an ear-piercing screech of pain, leaving behind a very familiar pelt that Percy had completely forgotten about. His plan developed as he knew that the pelt would be very useful against the remaining monsters.

The Drakon immediately stopped drinking and ran back to give itself some distance from the now evidently dangerous water, the Minotaur spun around so that it was now facing a figure that had just emerged from some bushes, recognising the male demigod instantly as the one who had just killed his companion and him multiple times before. The rage that he felt continuously grew as he relived those painful memories in his head and before he knew it, he was charging at Percy with everything he had, obviously forgetting how he had been beaten before and confirming Percy's thoughts about him not being very smart. Percy stood his ground and uncapped Riptide as well as his shield so that the Minotaur wouldn't figure out that it was running directly into a trap, then as it approached him, he rolled to the side with incredible speed causing the Minotaur to run head first into a tree, consequently getting stuck because his horn was firmly implanted within it.

Knowing that the Drakon and the Hydra would soon be upon him, Percy swiftly stabbed into the Minotaur's chest with Riptide causing the monster to evaporate into golden dust just like the Nemean Lion, but the difference was that the Minotaur left behind his horn which was still stuck in the tree.

With no time to pull out the horn, Percy turned to face the remaining monsters and was struck in the chest by the Drakon, but he managed to raise his shield so that it took the brunt of the blow, not his ribcage. The strike sent him flying about 200 metres towards the stream on the other side of the clearing however he didn't mind as it actually gave him much better positioning to fight off the Drakon and Hydra. Digging his sword into the ground to help himself up, Percy ran towards the stream and picked up the pelt left behind by the Nemean Lion, quickly rapping it around himself so that he would gain some much-needed protection against his enemies. After this, he took a few steps back and walked into the stream which instantly rejuvenated him and gave him the strength he needed to win the fight, unfortunately the Drakon and Hydra had remembered what the water had done to their companion and decided to keep their distance from the hero.

What followed was an intense stalemate in which neither side made any effort to approach each other, the two monsters being very cautious of the hero that had just killed two of their companions without gaining so much as a cut and said young hero waiting patiently for them to attack. Percy eventually decided that these two monsters had some intellect and that they wouldn't attack him, so he had to take the fight to them.

Percy willed the water around him to raise him up some 30 feet so that he could reach the monster's heads, in doing so he surprised said monsters, giving himself a very small window of opportunity to attack their weakest points. He launched himself towards the Drakon's head, its gaze had no effect on him as he wasn't afraid of the monster in the slightest and to prevent it or the Hydra from stopping him, he had the water that raised him up crash into their appendages and freeze to hold them in place. They would break out of these makeshift shackles very soon, but it widened his previously small window, so he stabbed the Drakon in its left eye with all of the power he had, the entire three-foot blade of Riptide penetrated the monster's head so that only the hilt could be seen. The result was expected and very appealing as the monster cried out due to the excruciating pain before its entire body slammed down onto the floor and it too erupted into golden dust.

Percy now stood over the remains of his latest victim, holding Riptide which was covered with the blood of both the Minotaur and the Drakon to the point where it dripped off the blade's tip to form a large pool of red liquid on the ground beneath him. The look a determination and surprise on his face displayed all of the emotion and thoughts within the young demigod. He couldn't believe that he was this close to defeating some of the strongest monsters in existence without even being touched, he was determined, maybe the most determined and motivated he had ever been. He wanted to finish the fight so that he could return and marry the girl he loved and start the life they always wanted. He wasn't going to let anything get in the way.

The Hydra who just broke out of the ice prison that was forced upon it had strategically positioned itself between the hero and the stream. Without the power of the water, Percy knew that defeating the monster would be difficult, but he had to find a way, he had the pelt of the Nemean Lion for protection as well as the horn of the Minotaur if he needs it, but he much preferred his own sword. There was also the newly gained skin of the Drakon that he just killed, he could use it for even more protection but that would just slow him down, the only way he was going to beat this thing was by being faster than it. Then a thought entered his mind, a stupid thought but so stupid that it might just work.

Percy ran at the Hydra, once again surprising it but the monster would not let itself be distracted so easily again so two of its nine heads bent down to Percy's level and breathed fire towards him. This attack would have surely killed him if it was for the pelt he was now using as a shield in front of him, instead of toasting every single part of him, the attack only burnt a section of his left hand and arm, not the worst thing that could've happened. He continued to run into the fire and quickly reached the heads that were breathing it but instead of cutting them off straight away, he used them to vault himself up onto the monsters back and then he stabbed Riptide deep into it. Everyone who has faced or even heard of the Lernaean Hydra knew that this attack wouldn't kill it but that wasn't the purpose for it. Just as Percy had expected, the monster tried to buck him off like one of those animatronic bulls, but he hung onto Riptide to keep himself on its back long enough for him to complete his plan. After a minute of the Hydra trying its hardest to get the hero off of its back, it stopped and instead had his heads try to rip him to shreds, this was the opening Percy was waiting for.

Now that he could steady himself and focus, he controlled the water from the stream that the Hydra had unknowingly stumbled into when it was trying to get him off its back. He made the water engulf himself and the Hydra and made it so that it raised them a few feet off the ground so that the monster couldn't get out. His plan was similar to what Hercules had done to the Nemean Lion when he was completing his labours, everything needs to breath so take away the air and it should die… right?

After about ten minutes of sustaining the floating mass of water by adding more water when some of it managed to fall, the last of the Hydra's head stopped struggling and the entire beast turned to dust just like its friends.

Exhausted, Percy dropped the water bubble and it washed away all of the dust in the clearing, he hoped that this would prevent them from reforming anytime soon. He then fell to his knees, unable to support himself anymore but extremely happy with himself for what he had just managed to accomplish but even more so for what it now allowed him to do.

Just as quickly as the happiest thought of his life entered the realm of possibilities, it was shattered.

The noise of a stick breaking might as well have thundered through the clearing because of how silent it was, and its effect struck shock and fear into Percy. He managed to leap to his feet with the little amount of adrenaline he had left but before he could turn, a whip struck across his back causing him to fall back to the floor. The strike went straight through the pelt of the Nemean Lion as if it was simple leather, meaning that whatever hit him must have been very powerful. He landed on his stomach, unable to move at all from his current position, the lash on his back burned more than anything he had ever experienced, then there was the laughing, the petrifying laughing of familiar presence.

As the laughing came closer to the incapacitated hero, he felt the rest of his skin start to burn but not in the same way as his back. His back burned and felt like it was blistering as if it was branded by a hot iron rod where as his skin felt like it was being melted off by acid but there was only air, sadly this detail allowed him to figure out what had attacked him and how he was helpless to stop it from killing him. With every ounce of strength left within his damaged body, Percy rolled onto his back so that he could look upon his attacker, he saw the head of medusa which would cause terror by itself but from the waist down there were no legs like you would expect, instead there was the body of a dragon. The scales laid across the entirety of its reptilian skin looked as strong or even stronger than any celestial bronze shield, but they were dark, as if they hadn't seen the light of day for thousands of years. A pair of gigantic wings sprouted from the monster's back that seemed to be larger than the wings of a plane and could easily block out the sun if the beast decided to do so, but it knew that it didn't need to instil any more fear than it already had. Looking towards the back of the monster, Percy saw that its tail was yet another appendage stolen from a different animal, where you would assume the tail of a dragon would be was instead a tail of a scorpion, its size up-scaled to match the rest of the monster's body as to not look out of place or just for decoration, and he could tell just from looking at it, that it wasn't for show. The end of the tail dripped much like Riptide did after he killed the Minotaur and Drakon except the liquid was black, so black that it could compete with the night sky, a poison so terrible that you would still feel its effect after death. Its satanic eyes bore a hole straight into the hero's soul, the only relief was in the brief moments when it blinked, closing its eyelids sideways like a reptile would.

Unfortunately, Percy's suspicion had been confirmed, there stood Kampȇ holding her fire covered whip, eagerly waiting to end his life

"Hello Perseus Jackson, how sad to see the Hero of Olympus in such a fragile and vulnerable state", her voice sounded very soft but that only caused more terror, what's worse than having an extremely calm and terrifying killer that makes it seem as if they are killing you for no reason or worse, because they are bored and find it fun to watch the life you've built and could build drain away to the underworld.

"Good job with killing those pathetic monsters by the way, I never really thought they were as strong as everyone thought they were. Even when they were grouped together they couldn't kill one little demigod, how disappointing"

Percy could only lay there and listen to the gloating from the hideous monster, he tried his hardest to move even a single muscle in his body or talk a single word, but nothing happened.

"Anyway, back on track. Someone wants to speak with you Perseus, someone who is quite angry with you"

Percy's heart raced about a million miles per hour, his mind flooded with thoughts and questions about the trap that he had so clearly walked straight into. The thoughts that reoccurred the most were the ones that had the worst answers.

_Someone that's angry with me? That could be a very large list of people, but who on earth could send Kampȇ to do their bidding? The last time that happened was during the second titan war…_

The young hero's mind stopped dead in its tracks, his heart rate increased even more, and his body started to sweat profusely. The answer to his thoughts had become clear to him but he was in no position to do anything about it, the fact was, he is at the mercy of the one being in the universe that wanted him dead more than anything, all because of what he had done to him, to Kronos.

Kampȇ moved over Percy, slowly stalking around him as if to admire her prey but she only administered a single cut down his right arm with one of her menacing scimitars, nothing more. She dug her sword into the middle of his forearm then slowly dragged it upwards towards his shoulder as she moved around him. The act was carried out with no effort, but the effect upon the hero was immeasurable, he could feel every slight movement of the blade as it separated the skin in his arm, shuddering as it crept further up his arm, only stopping a millimetre from his shoulder.

If Kronos wanted him dead, he would be by now, one swift movement from either of Kampȇ's scimitars would accomplish that, but there was only one non-lethal cut… then the poison entered his bloodstream and he drifted off into a dreamless sleep, or so he wished…

Percy opened his eyes, thinking that he was awake, but his surroundings telling him otherwise. He was no longer in the forest, probably not even in California anymore for all he knew but the place he found himself in was empty. Everywhere he looked there was only the black of night, but it had been the middle of the day not two minutes ago and this darkness… this darkness was not the night that he was used to, this darkness infiltrated his mind, reaching out for control while freezing his body in place. He couldn't move, but what use would that do anyway, in a place where there was nothing, a place where even the gods would have to fight to maintain their powerful and mighty appearances.

Percy's POV

Where am I? I was just in the clearing with… with Kampȇ but she did something to me, she cut me… then I came here but how? Her sword, it must have been her sword! It must have been coated with some type of poison…

No… I can't be dead… not yet…

"Oh, you're not dead just yet young hero. That would be way too easy for you, no, you need to suffer for everything that you did to me"

That voice… that cold, heartless voice…

"Yes Perseus, it's me, don't tell me that you've forgotten about me already? I'm hurt, I could never forget about you after what you did to me!"

The anger, all that rage… I can feel it penetrating me… no! I must fight it!

"Yes… good young hero… try fight my will, it will only cause you more pain in the end, after all, I've only brought you here to warn you…"

Brought me here? You're the reason those monsters were grouped together, you wanted me to hunt them… so that I could be brought here… but warn me? what does that mean. It's pretty clear that you're just going to kill me… ENOUGH! I WON'T JUST STAND HERE AND LET YOU READ MY THOUGHTS!

"JUST GET IT OVER AND DONE WITH KRONOS! ORDER YOUR LITTLE PET TO KILL ME ALREADY, AT LEAST THEN I WON'T HAVE TO LISTEN TO YOU!"

"Ahh ha ha, I'm not going to kill you Perseus, no… how could I kill you now when the fates have so much more planned for you"

The fates? What more could those meddling bitches do to me now; they've finally led me to my death.

"What do you mean? They've already managed to lead me to my death at the hands of you and Kampȇ. Unless they have something planned for me in the underworld, I don't think it will matter very much"

Well… I don't think he liked that very much…

"I HAVE ALREADY TOLD YOU SEA SPAWN THAT YOU WILL NOT DIE IN THIS PRESENT TIME! YOU WOULD DO WELL TO LISTEN TO ME INSTEAD OF ADAMANTLY INSISTING THAT YOU WILL BE KILLED OTHERWISE I MAY JUST FULFIL YOU'RE REQUEST!"

Yep… definitely didn't like that.

"Fine. If you're not going to kill me then get on with whatever you need to warn me about. I have much better things to be doing with my time"

"Ah yes, you wish to propose to that daughter of Athena… don't look shocked Perseus, your mind is an open book to me here. Anyway, I wouldn't get my hopes up if I were you… your future is somewhat clouded young hero, but I can tell you one thing… you will wish that you joined me when you had the chance"

"What does that mean! What have you done to Annabeth!"

"Ahh ah ah, I have done nothing Perseus, it is her that has done something to you, and the gods that will do something far worse. That is my warning young hero, I advise that you heed it before you find everything that you have ever known… destroyed"

"I DON'T BELIEVE YOU, TELL ME WHAT YOU HAVE DONE!"

"Well… now I'm just bored, leave me sea spawn, but don't forget what I have told you"

No! I can't wake up now! I need to find out what he's done to Annabeth… NO!

3rd Person POV

Percy slowly started to stir from his unconscious state, the light of the day blinded him as he tried to open his eyes. He found that his body no longer hurt like it previously had and quickly noticed that he was now laying in the stream that ran through the empty clearing. Kampȇ must have dragged him into it after the poison took effect so that he could heal himself, not like he could ask her, she was no where to be seen, it looked like she had never even been there but the mark on his back from her whip and the scar down his arm from her sword begged to differ.

At least it all made sense now, why all those monsters were travelling together, why he's been attacked by so many monsters over the past six months. It was all Kronos plan to kill him, yes kill him, Percy didn't care if the titan lord told him otherwise, he knew that the only reason he was still alive was because the titan probably wanted to do it himself.

Percy just laid in the stream allowing the water to flow over him, providing the must needed strength and rejuvenation that kept him alive through the entire ordeal however he couldn't stay there for much longer as he noticed a sinister cloud gathering above him. In the same moment, the sky erupted into a terrible sound and a bolt of lightning flew down towards the young hero. With almost no time to react, he willed the water around him to throw him out of the stream, he landed about 200 feet away on the other side of the clearing, facing the area he had recently left just in time to see the lightning strike.

He knew that Kronos would try kill him, he could see straight through the titan's lies. This act only worked to solidify the thoughts that everything he had been told was a lie, but there was something strange about this lightning. Instead of being one solid colour like they usually were, this one fluctuated between the regular colour of lightning and a sinister red. He guessed that it was due to the fact that the titan had to summon it all the way from Tartarus and then gave it no more thought.

Percy's mind now flooded with worry and anxiety concerning his friends and most importantly, Annabeth. He had to get back to Olympus and find out what Kronos has done, and whether all of his friends are ok. He quickly gather the rest of the spoils left over by the monster he killed and called for Blackjack. He wasn't allowed to use Blackjack previously as Athena wanted him to prove that he is strong enough to survive on his own, but now that his quest was complete he would need his friends help in carrying the evidence and himself back to his home.

After a short greeting between the hero and his faithful steed in which Percy explained his worry and need to get back as soon as possible, the two set of towards New York where Olympus resided so that he could show Athena that he had indeed completed his quest.

It didn't take very long at all for the two to reach New York, all together it took about 4 hours with a few breaks here and there so that Blackjack could rest. Percy guessed that since Blackjack hadn't been ridden in about six months, he must have had a lot of energy saved up. Now it would only be a few minutes before he reached Olympus and found out what the titan lord had done, he just hoped that it wasn't as bad as he feared.


	5. Chapter 5 - The Birth of Hollow

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Percy Jackson series, all rights belong to Rick Riordan**

**Chapter 5 – The Birth of Hollow**

3rd Person POV

**Olympus**

Percy and Blackjack flew through the streets of Olympus as fast as they could, it was as if they were back in the second titan war, racing towards the throne room where Kronos threatened to destroy the god's thrones of power but as far as he knew, Kronos was about to try again. Ever since he had that conversation with the titan lord, he was worried and afraid of what could have happened to his friends and family, he hated not being there to protect them all.

Percy frantically looked around as he raced towards the throne room, looking for any sign that a fight had broken out or that something had happened, something to point him in the right direction but there was nothing. Everywhere he looked, everything seemed normal, people were walking around conversing with each other and the gods, well minor gods as the Olympians were always too busy. Deciding that he would not get anything out of charging into the throne room expect some very angry glares, he told Blackjack to fly towards Athena's temple thinking that if he wanted to find anything out, she would be able to inform him.

Olympus looked incredible as he now steadily flew through the great city in the sky, the sun reflected off of the polished white marble in all possible directions, truly showing that powerful deities made it their home, what other beings are worthy of the countless masterpieces of architecture. The greatest thing about Olympus in Percy's opinion was the fact that Annabeth was the one who designed it, every step, every fountain, every building throughout the city was from her vision and it all looked amazing. The palaces built for the gods would easily beat the most beautiful house any mortal could ever hope to create, each one was decorated and constructed to show the power of its owner and no two were ever the same or arguably better than another as it would definitely annoy the owner of the inferior one. The only exceptions to this were the palaces of the Olympians, these palaces were beyond magnificent, and their size shows the importance of their occupants. The greatest one of them all belonged to Zeus as he was the king of the gods and would most definitely destroy anyone or anything that said he didn't deserve it. His palace was larger than the rest, probably to fit his ever increasing ego but none could state that it wasn't the most remarkable building to ever exist, the colours resemble those of his lightning bolts and the theme of lightning was consistent where ever you looked in case you already didn't know who lived there. The walls and floors are covered in only the best pieces of art ranging from paintings to the most heavenly tapestries that anyone could think off, courtesy of his favourite daughter, Athena.

Speaking of Athena, the hero and his faithful steed were now very close to the goddess's not so humble abode. The building was incredibly large and made out of the finest cuts of marble that her daughter could find, the sculptures and other decorations displayed the wisdom of the goddess rather than obsession on her own looks like other gods 'cough Aphrodite cough', they mostly consisted of history's smartest individuals, all of which were her children. Instead of covering the interior with paintings and other unnecessary decorations, there were never ending bookshelves all containing a never-ending supply of books from throughout time. If you ever needed to find a book for a school report, you could definitely find it here if you learnt how to navigate the maze that would make the labyrinth jealous.

Just as would be expected, the goddess herself was sat on one of the very few chairs that could be found within the residence, reading a book that she has probably read before but anyone who knows her could say that without a doubt, she has read every single book in there at least once. The concentration on her face showed that she was either remembering or memorising every word that she read, one would think that nothing short of an explosion could distract her from her current state. This was true but there is always something that could disrupt peace where ever it is, in this case, that something was a certain raven-haired teen charging through the door, unannounced and without permission.

Athena looked up from her book, anger spread across her face at the evident disrespect that she was being shown by the hero, but she couldn't touch the boy due to his father. She wondered how anyone who showed even a sliver of disrespect to a god could be allowed to live but here was an individual who had shown so much more than a sliver throughout his years of service. Before the hero could notice her, she removed the look of hate and disgust that she had been displaying and replaced it with one of fake happiness and approval.

Percy had now recovered from the shock he gained after seeing the countless books to see the now standing goddess looking over at him, she looked amused or smug that the great hero of Olympus was somewhat scared of something as simple as a book. He noticed that she wore her normal grey robes and looked the same as she always did except for the happy atmosphere that she seemed to be expressing. Percy was initially cautious of the feeling but then immediately relaxed into the atmosphere thinking that she was now accepting of him, but he failed to notice her cold, heartless eyes staring at him.

The first one to speak was Athena who did so in a gentle, caring tone that caused Percy to relax even further and the thought and worry of Kronos to retreat into his mind. If the titan lord had done anything, the goddess in front of him would most definitely be anything but gentle and caring so he elected to do what he needed to then leave.

"Hello Perseus, I see that you have managed to accomplish the task that I gave to you," she gestured towards the spoils still being carried by Blackjack, "but I must say that you took much longer than I had expected"

A look of shame quickly appeared on Percy's face as he looked down at his feet, it was never a good thing to disappoint someone, especially if that person was the mother of the girl you loved and an incredibly powerful god.

Athena simply looked down upon him, it was a good thing that he was looking down as well otherwise he would have seen how much she was enjoying the pain and worry that she had caused. After about a minute of silence where nothing changed, she thought it would be better to continue with what she was saying.

"However, you have impressed me by completing the task, not many people can take out such as powerful group of monsters without any help, so I suppose that the quest was a succe-"

"Does that mean I can marry Annabeth!", the thought had escaped his mouth before he could even think about who he was talking to, no god took interruptions very well and that was evident by the quick glare and frown on her face but Percy didn't notice or care, he was eagerly waiting for a response.

Quickly burying the instinct to annihilate the boy for so rudely interrupting her, Athena decided that her happy tone and atmosphere would continue to serve her best in the situation but this time she wasn't faking it, however she wasn't happy due to Percy, but because of what she knew and he didn't know concerning the relationship between her daughter and the hero. "Yes Perseus, that means I give you my blessing, you can propose to my daughter, but I expect you to do it with a ring that rivals her beauty"

Anyone who looked at Percy could see the panic immediately set in, throughout the entirety of his quest and even before, he had not once thought about the ring that he would give to Annabeth. He had only ever thought about the feeling of having her as his wife, sharing the rest of his life with her, having children and watching them grow up but that wouldn't be possible without the perfect ring. Not that he doubted the love that they 'share' over something as simple as a ring, but he wouldn't propose without the most beautiful and perfect ring possible, luckily his 'soon to be' mother in law had spent some time thinking about this subject.

The goddess walked over to a desk that she evidently used a lot and opened the top drawer, only to take out a small grey box and quickly return to Percy with the most believable fake smile possible. She gave the box to him without saying a single word and then waited for him to open it. Doing as he thought the goddess wanted him to, Percy opened the box to see what he thought was the most beautiful creation to ever exist, more beautiful than Aphrodite, even more beautiful than Olympus. A ring with grey and sea green colours intertwined sat there, it looked like it produced and gave off its own light or the light in the palace hit it perfectly but what was truly amazing was the polished gold inscription that stood out above all other colours. The inscription simply read 'I Love You Until the End of Time, My Wise Girl', Percy couldn't think of anything better for it to say, the ring was truly perfect and any panic and worry he had disappeared upon seeing it.

He stood their staring at the ring, mesmerised in its image until Athena decided to speak again. "I had Hephaestus make it when I sent you on your quest, it took him a week because I wouldn't take anything less than what my daughter deserved, but it still isn't complete so if you would give it back to me and then proceed to sacrifice the spoils you have acquired to me"

Percy quickly handed Athena the ring and went to get the spoils off of Blackjack, all the while thinking about what could possibly be done to improve what was already perfect, but he decided not to say that out loud. When he had finally gathered all of the spoils he gained from his quest, he turned back to the goddess and saw that a sacrificial fire had now appeared, similar to the one in the dining pavilion at camp. He elected to also say nothing about the fires sudden appearance, instead he walked over to it and placed all of the spoils into it, making sure to say 'Athena' rather than 'Poseidon' like he normally would.

The goddess immediately felt the surge of power from the sacrifice and knew that it would provide her with all of the power that she needed to do what was required of her. She clenched the ring in her left hand then used the right one to cover it, after a brief moment, her hand started to shine as if she was going to change into her godly form, when Percy saw this he closed his eyes, afraid that he would die if he didn't. Another brief moment where neither person said anything nor had their eyes open, the light coming from the goddess's hand decreased but didn't disappear.

"It is done Perseus"

Percy opened his eyes and what he saw almost caused him to faint. The ring that used to just have intertwined colours of grey and sea green now had so much more, where the colours used to just be static, they now constantly moved as if they were a liquid, but you could also still see that the ring was made from metal. The gold inscription also moved around the ring and gave off a larger amount of light than it previously did, and the entirety of the ring seemed to do the same, but the inscription gave off more, you could also feel an aura of power coming from it, not a very strong aura but strong enough.

Even Athena seemed to be enticed by the ring so they both stood there staring at it until she placed it back into the box and once again handed it to Percy.

"Thank you Lady Athena, the ring is beyond perfect but what did you do to it?"

Athena had expected him to ask this, luckily he wasn't very smart so he would believe anything that she told him, what reason would he have to not believe her? After a small period of time where the goddess collected a precise and believable response, she responded to him.

"I just used all of the power from the spoils plus my own power to bless the ring. This blessing is extremely strong and rarely used because the requirements to make it work are difficult to find. The blessing requires two people who are in true love with each other and blesses their life together so that it will be the best that it can possibly be"

There was no chance in the world that Percy would have guessed that, he didn't think that anything like that would be possible or that anyone would do that for him, even if it was actually for Annabeth, not him. New found hope and excitement filled him as he imagined the future that he could now have with Annabeth, no more fighting for their lives, no more wars, no more losing friends and family. He and the girl he loved would finally be able to live the perfect life together, there was nothing he wanted more than this.

"Thank you so much Lady Athena, I can't believe that someone would ever do something like this for anyone. I look forward to living the best life possible with your daughter"

The happy look on the goddess's face shifted to one of seriousness as she prepared to reply. Percy would have feared for his life if it wasn't for the fact that the happy atmosphere was still present, so he thought that she didn't want to kill him right now.

"I would do anything for my daughter to have the best life she could ever have, and if you ever break her heart or do anything to hurt her, I will personally kill you in such a way that will make anything in the fields of punishment look like Elysium"

Percy now felt extremely uncomfortable, everyone knew that his flaw was loyalty and that he wouldn't dare hurt any of his friends, especially Annabeth so he shrugged the warning off as motherly concern. He was unable to form words after the threat he received so instead he just nodded and made his way back to Blackjack. With one last glance over to Athena who hadn't moved from where she was standing, he climbed back onto the Pegasus and flew off towards camp, any thought and worry about Kronos or another enemy were non-existent as he flew back to the girl he loved.

After Percy left her palace, Athena didn't move and continued to stare at the door he just flew out of. Now that the boy wasn't present, she could demolish the happy atmosphere she was forced to build and display how she actually felt towards the hero. All of the disrespect, ignorance and stupidity that he showed re-emerged from her mind and angered her to no end. She thought that Poseidon was bad, but his son was far worse in her eyes, and the fact that he thinks he is worthy of her favourite daughter, her wonderful Annabeth, sickened her.

All of the anger and rage she had hidden rose to the surface and as if on cue, the one person she wanted to talk to showed up. With a blinding flash, Zeus now stood next to his favourite daughter with a grin the size of his ego. They both stared at the last place the young hero was until the king of the gods decided it was time to speak.

"Is it done Athena, is everything in place for what's to come?"

The anger she felt instantly melted away and left behind happiness and eagerness as she remembered what she had just done and what was soon to happen. In her and her father's opinion, the young hero would soon get everything that was coming to him.

"Yes father, everything went according to my plan and thanks to that boy under your control, my daughter has admitted that she doesn't love Perseus, though I would have preferred it if she didn't date another son of Poseidon"

Zeus then placed a hand on his daughter's shoulder to show he was proud and happy with her before he flashed away. All they now had to do was wait and watch everything unfold, just watch the hero's world crumble and fall around him.

* * *

**Camp Half Blood **

It was now night over Long Island and all seemed like it would be same as it always was. The moon was full and racing across the sky, it looked extremely stunning tonight, courtesy of Lady Artemis who I guess was in a good mood for some reason, maybe she managed to gain another hunter but who knows. Along with the moon, the night sky was covered in stars all of which shone brightly but one constellation always shone brighter than all others, that being the huntress and formerly known as Zoë Nightshade. It too shone unusually bright tonight but maybe it was because of how it was looking upon her former leader being in a good mood.

The camp itself was completely still except for the few cleaning harpies that roamed around cleaning and looking for children skipping curfew, so that they could get a late-night meal. Everything was silent, not even a small noise could be heard from any of the cabins as everyone was actually asleep for once, the work and training of the day had been especially challenging and if you heard the singing at the campfire, you could easily see the effect it had on the campers.

Even though the camp looked the same during the night, it was anything but the same throughout the day, and this was the fault of one particular camper that seems to have developed some sort of a god complex, ironic considering he knows that they already exist and that they are much stronger than himself. This child was none other than Aiden Shaw, son of Poseidon who in his short time at the camp, had managed to gain such a large following that you would think he had grown up there since he was a child. The majority of the campers treated Aiden as if he was actually a god, which is the main reason why he developed his god complex, they followed him round like lost dogs and would do anything that he asked without question. The funny thing was that he never actually did anything, he would hardly ever train as he always said he was already the best in the world, he would always get others to do his chores and he spent most of his time with his girlfriend.

The only people who didn't comply with the kid's commands were those who were close friends with Percy, they knew that he was no where near as strong as Percy but without him being here for so long, the other campers seemed to forget this. It seemed to really anger Aiden when they wouldn't do what he told them to or when they didn't follow him like the others did but no matter how much boasting and showing off that he did, they wouldn't change their minds.

Anyway, because of Aiden, the camp wasn't in the best position right now. People hardly trained because they were always following his example, because of this the camp's defences were at an all time low and if there was an attack of any sort, they would need to rely on the older campers who had experienced the wars. The one person who knew how large of a problem this was is Chiron, he was constantly trying to get the campers to train and develop their skills, but his influence was being diminished by Aiden, today was one of the first times in a long time that he managed to get everyone to train. He took this chance to work everyone as hard as he could which explained why they were all passed out in their cabins rather than up and talking with each other.

Chiron currently sat on the porch of the big house looking across the empty camp, he found himself thinking of the good old times where everyone was working as hard as they could, but also about all of the campers that he has ever trained, those who were still alive and those who had unfortunately passed away. He thought about how they'd react to the current state of camp and what they would do about it, the original Perseus would probably kill a few of the more… disobedient campers. What he wouldn't give for it all to go back to how it used to be before the impacts of war had taken their toll on the lives of both the campers and the gods, but then again it was because of the wars and one demigod in particular that the gods were improving. This demigod being Percy Jackson, his favourite student and everyone knew it.

He now found himself thinking about the achievements of the young hero and how he had managed to accomplish so much at such a young age, it was unbelievable and the fact that he managed to train the hero made him feel like a proud father. However, since he left to go on his quest six months ago, nothing of the hero has been heard of, not even iris messages could reach him, but he found out that this was because of Lady Athena wanting him to be completely without help. It makes sense but made him worry when the quest started to take so long, it was as if he disappeared again and just like last time, there was nothing anyone could do.

Chiron's POV

I can't believe he's been gone for six months, I thought that for someone of his calibre, the quest would take one month at most, but I guess the quest is much harder than we thought. No one even knows what he was told to do, for all we know Athena gave him an impossible quest, everyone knows that she isn't fond of Poseidon or anything that is to do with him, especially his children. I just need to know that he's alright, and that he is hopefully on his way back to camp, we all need him to come and snap the campers out of whatever they're in, but then again it might be better if he stays away, who knows what will happen when he finds out about Annabeth.

I still don't want to believe that the same girl I raised and saw as a daughter… well I still see as a daughter… would act the way that she is doing. Its almost as if the old Annabeth that everyone knew was taken and replaced by whatever is constantly breaking rules and hanging around with Aiden and his followers, not to mention the things that she is apparently saying. There's still hope though, I haven't seen anything extremely bad so hopefully when young Perseus returns, he'll be able to bring the old Annabeth back… or he'll be heartbroken… is it worth the risk? All I know is that things cannot carry on the way that they currently are, hardly any of the other heroes talk to her anymore not to mention that almost all of her siblings ignore her except when they are forced to listen. Before we know it, the camp will erupt into a civil war, we can't have another war… no matter how small it is in comparison to the previous ones…

What would probably also help the camp would be if our other two strongest campers didn't spend all of their time in the forest, not talking to or helping anyone other than themselves. Ever since that night three months ago, after that situation on the beach, Thalia and Nico haven't been the same. They don't do any of their chores and if anyone tries to say anything to them, they never get a reply or they get scared off by a show of their power, that's if they even get a chance to talk to them since no one ever sees them except for breakfast, lunch and dinner where they just sit together at the Hades table. As far as I know, they spend all of their time training with each other and it really shows, they have both put on a lot of muscle and seem to be able to do things that should be impossible for people their age, and that's not even mentioning the aura the two seem to have developed. It almost feels as if a minor god is present whenever you see the two together, its remarkable but I wish that they'd spend more time in the camp then maybe others would follow their example rather than Aiden's. Speaking of Aiden, whenever he tries to get near them, he ends up going to the infirmary with some form of injury, mostly broken bones and they don't even acknowledge Annabeth anymore, its as if they never knew her.

I've also heard countless rumours concerning the pair, most of them say that they are dating and doing some inappropriate things in the forest but anyone who knows them would be able to see that nothing romantic would ever happen with them. From what I've seen over the years, I would wager that Thalia has developed some form of attraction to a particular saviour of Olympus, but it isn't my place to involve myself in anything like that, thankfully.

However, something that I do have to involve myself in is who enters and leaves the camp and right now, something has just entered the camp, two somethings actually. Who would be entering the camp at this time of night, more importantly what are their intentions, and do they intend to harm the campers, no matter how annoying they get, it is my duty to ensure their safety while they are here.

Now let's see where this intruder is, hopefully its nothing and I don't have to wake anyone up as I don't think they will be very happy if I do. It looks as if no one has entered the camp by foot so they must be in the air… ah, there they are… oh it's just Blackjack, I wondered where he had gotten to but who is riding him. Blackjack only ever lets one person ride him unless that person gives others their permission so that must mean that… oh please let it be who I think it is.

Perfect, they are heading towards the stables, no one will be there during the night, actually hardly anyone is ever there since none of the horses or Pegasus like Aiden and his followers, so basically the entire camp. Speaking of the horses and Pegasus, they seem to be excited over something. I should go calm them down before the wake up the campers.

"Guys, please calm down, you're making way too much noise, and stop calling me lord!"

There's only one person I know who is that humble and can also talk to horses, thank the gods he's back.

"Yes Blackjack, I will get you a bunch of donuts tomorrow but right now you need to be quiet and tell everyone else to be quiet too, otherwise I won't get you anything"

I can't even see him yet, but I can already tell that he's wearing that signature grin of his, guess it's time I make myself known then we can talk about what we are going to do about camp.

"You know that staying out past curfew is against the rules young hero"

"SHI- oh, Chiron, don't scare me like that"

After everything he has been through, something as simple as that is still able to give him a heart attack.

"Hello Percy, its been a long time"

"Yeh it has, and I tell you what, it felt much longer than it actually was. You don't know how much I've missed you and everyone"

Still the same old Percy, that's some good news considering how everyone else seems to have changed.

"I have missed you as well Percy, so have your friends. You were gone so long that I had to keep Thalia and Nico from going out to find you"

"Hahaha, that's sound like something those two would do, I can't wait to see them"

"And they will be beyond happy that you are back as well, but I warn you that they have both been training extremely hard while you've been gone"

If I know Thalia, the first thing she will want to do is fight Percy to show him how annoyed she is with him, and if he's not prepared, she could actually kill him.

"Well I'm not too scared, over these six months I've increased my own power as well"

How have I only just registered the aura that he's giving off, its massive. If I wasn't staring at Percy, I would think that a god is near by where as it takes both Thalia and Nico together to give that impression. I feel sorry for anyone who gets in his bad side, which might be a lot of people very soon…

"Yes, I can see… your aura is possibly the strongest that I have ever felt from a demigod… so other than getting stronger, what occurred on this mighty quest of yours"

"Actually, for a long time, nothing really happened. I was tasked with tracking down and killing a group of powerful monsters, but they ended up taking me across the country before I finally caught up to them in California"

"What monsters were in the group then; I imagine that they were challenging opponents if Lady Athena sent you to kill them"

I feel like I am about to be very impressed with what the young hero is about to tell me.

"The group was not very large, but the monsters were strong, I won't go into how I managed to kill them otherwise I'd just have to repeat myself tomorrow when I tell everyone else. The group was made up of the Minotaur, the Nemean Lion, the Lernaean Hydra and lastly, the Lydian Drakon"

"I'm impressed Percy, you never seize to amaze me. I am very much looking forward to hearing how you managed to do it, it will be another story to tell at the campfire, I'm sure of it"

"Nah, we don't need anymore stories about my adventures being told at the campfire, it's embarrassing enough already. Anyway, how has camp been while I was away, when I flew over it was completely still"

Still as humble as ever I see, but do I tell him what camp has turned into or do I let him see for himself. I'll just tell him the basics.

"Quite a bit has changed actually, starting with a new camper that arrived a few months back after you went on your quest, a new son of Poseidon named Aiden"

"You mean I have a new brother! That's amazing, I can't wait to meet him, how old is he?"

"He is 17 years old, just like you but I believe that you are older than him, at least in appearance"

Yes, at least in appearance because if my guess is correct, I think he spent some time in a certain troublesome casino.

"What? How on earth is he my age? Dad told me that he has only been with my mum since the oath was made"

"Yes, I think that he was telling the truth. Aiden will not tell anyone where he has been throughout his life, but I think he has been trapped in the Lotus Casino for a number of years"

"That would make the most sense… but how did he get out?"

That is another thing I would like to know but it doesn't seem too important.

"I'm not sure, maybe he was just lucky"

"Ok… now onto the more important thing Chiron, where is Annabeth? Because I have something I would like to ask her"

Oh, how could I forget about that right now, that was the entire reason for his disappearance. I need to buy some time; I don't exactly know what's going on with her yet.

"Right now, she is sleeping like all of the other campers, I put them through quite a tough session of training today and they all passed out after the campfire. It looks like you will have to wait till tomorrow and since you now have a cabin mate, I think you should stay in the big house tonight, so you don't disturb him"

"That seems like a smart thing to do, but if you don't mind, I would like to take a little walk around camp. I haven't been here in so long; I just want to make sure that it's the same as I remember"

"I'm sure that won't be a problem, I will let the cleaning harpies know what you are doing so they won't bother you"

"Thank you Chiron, I really have missed you and the camp. I won't be long, so I'll meet you back at the big house when I'm done"

"Ok Percy, have a pleasant walk", because it might be the last one that you can have in a while. I am truly thrilled that you are back, but I just hope that whatever happens tomorrow, you will still be the same old Percy people know and love.

* * *

Percy POV

I'm finally home, after so long I'm back to where I feel the safest and the happiest. If I have my way, I don't think that I'll ever willingly leave this place ever again. I can't wait to see all my friends again and tell them everything about the quest but I'm actually kind of happy that I won't see any of them tonight. It was great to see Chiron again since he has always been a father to me but its nice to be able to just walk around camp and see everything that I love without any interruptions. Nothing seems to have changed in the camp physically, but I guess that means the changes that Chiron talked about concern the campers, hopefully its nothing bad… Then there's my brother, I can't believe I have a brother, it will be so much fun to not be alone at the Poseidon table or have to train my powers alone, I can help him get stronger then we'll be unstoppable.

The more I walk around and see everything, the more I know that whatever Kronos told me was a lie, nothing was different and there was no sign that any trouble had occurred. That conversation was just a last attempt to make me suffer and destroy myself, but it didn't work, not at all… but then again if he wanted me dead, Kampȇ would have done it, its just all so confusing…

Anyway, when did I reach the cabins? Even they don't seem different except a few of them seem to have been extended to accommodate for more campers, there must be a few more that arrived after I left or my quest, the more the merrier. Its been months since I've been in my own cabin, my own bed, oh what I wouldn't give to just go in and collapse on it but then I'd wake up Aiden, not the best first impression so I'll do the smart thing and wait till tomorrow. Then there's the Athena cabin, its so tempting to charge through those doors and see her, to propose and make her mine forever, my Annabeth, but again, not the best idea considering how angry they all would be. Too bad as well because tonight is beautiful and would be perfect for proposing. Oh well, guess I'll do the next best thing and head to my favourite place in camp… the beach.

I absolutely love the beach at camp, and it's not because I'm a son of Poseidon the sea god. The beach here is just amazing in every way, unlike public beaches, there is not litter polluting it and the same goes for the sea, during a beautiful summer day, the sea is crystal clear. Then there's the sand, the softest sand in the world that is always the perfect temperature, never cold but not too hot, just perfect. The beach is arguably better at night than it is during the day because of how the moon reflects off of the sea to engulf the beach in just the right amount of light where it isn't annoyingly bright. All of this would be enough for anyone but its enhanced with me being a son of Poseidon, everything to do with the beach is just a hundred times better for me and makes me feel even more comfortable and happy, its as if I'm with my dad but that hardly ever happens because of how busy he is.

I wonder if I have enough time to take a quick swim, its been forever since I had a nice relaxing swim and just escaped from my everyday life, I'm sure Chiron wouldn't mind as I'll just dry myself before I go into the big house. I can't think of any reasons not do it so-

"Try and stop me then"

Who was that? Its sounds like a guy but more importantly, who is stupid enough to risk being caught out after curfew, even I'm not that stupid but mostly because I enjoy sleeping. It sounded like it came from around these trees and bushes, I think I'll do them a favour and tell them to get back to their cabin before they get eaten by the harpies.

"I can't believe you!"

I recognise that voice, how could I ever forget that melodic yet bossy voice, the one that belongs to the one person I love more than anything, well except my mum. I so want to run around the corner and propose to her right now, the beach is where I wanted to do it anyway, but I want to do it when we're alone, so I need her to hurry up and shout at this kid, so he'll leave. I think I'll just hide here and listen to the entertainment, then I'll go and speak to Annabeth.

"You know you love it when I do that, and when I do this, and this.."

What on earth is this kid doing, doesn't he know that Annabeth will kill him for flirting with her. I think I might have to step in to stop him from being torn apart, not the way I wanted to let people know I'm back, but I'll do it if I have to. Why isn't there anywhere better to hide where I can actually see what's happening.

"Ok… you're right, but don't get too full of yourself"

Seriously, what on earth is happening, why hasn't she killed him and what are they doing. I need to see; one quick look shouldn't alert them to my presence. Ok 1… 2… 3! Now what are the-

.

.

.

They're kissing… HE'S KISSING MY GIRLFRIEND, THE PERSON I'M GOING MARRY, THE PERSON I'M GOING TO START A FAMILY WITH! BUT… she's kissing him back… WHY IS SHE KISSING HIM BACK!

WHAT IS SHE DOING, WHY IS SHE SO OPENLY CHEATING ON ME AFTER EVERYTHING THAT I'VE DONE FOR HER, AND FOR EVERYBODY! I JUMPED IN TARTARUS FOR HER AND SHE CHEATS ON ME THE FIRST CHANCE SHE GETS, WHEN I'M AWAY ON A QUEST FROM HER OWN MOTHER SO THAT I CAN MARRY HER! I SHOULD.. I.. should.. calm down… I need to find out what is actually happening…

"Oh Aiden…"

What did she just say… he.. he's my brother… SHE'S CHEATING ON ME WITH MY OWN BROTHER!

3rd Person POV

The night was no longer calm, the crystal-clear sea was now forming destructive waves that ranged from sizes as small as five feet high to twenty high but that was just the start of it. Percy was also unknowingly causing the entire camp to shake, his own earth quake that if left unchecked could easily cause massive damage and could even pose a threat to life. The angrier that Percy got, the higher and more frequent the waves got but none of them reached the shore, not yet… and the earth quake was steadily growing in power, the trees were shaking, almost falling over. It wasn't long till lights started turning on throughout the cabins, people were being shaken out of their beds.

While this was happening around him, Percy could only think about one thing, how he had been betrayed by the girl he loved and dedicated so much to. Then, as if a switch was flicked in his heart, all of the anger and rage he felt transitioned to sadness and pain, he couldn't see a future for himself anymore. It didn't help when he heard Annabeth break away from the kiss and talk again.

"That was sensational, do you feel the earth shaking, and look at the sea! You truly are the most powerful demigod to ever live… and to think, it's because of kissing me"

The smugness in her voice was sickening, how she took credit for something like that, something that Aiden didn't even do. He thought about how she said Aiden was the most powerful demigod, as if trying to cause offence to him even though she didn't know he was there. Percy wanted to feel angry but all he felt was the increasing amount of sadness and pain, one things for sure, he was not looking forward to meeting his brother anymore.

With no more anger left in him, the waves returned to their calm nature and the earth quake stopped but the entire camp was awake by now. Percy just stood there in shock, still hiding from the pair, not for his own sake but for theirs as he didn't know what he would do to them in that moment. Without thinking, he took out the ring that he had in his pocket and held it in his hand, staring at it as if it was a foreign object that he had never seen before. It no longer looked beautiful to him, the sea green colours seemed to be overtaken by the grey, and the previous beautiful grey colour was replaced by a dark, depressing grey. If anyone else saw the ring, they'd still see it as it was but to Percy, it was nothing but a discarded piece of metal.

Then something happened, all of the sadness and pain, the hopelessness and heart break that he felt doubled, then again, then again… and it kept on doubling until the feelings were a thousand times worse than what they had been. Percy had no idea what was happening, but he couldn't even spare enough energy or anything to think about it, it was as if all the positive emotions he had ever felt and could ever feel were being murdered by the negative ones. He could feel himself becoming a hollow shell of what he once was, but he didn't care, the feeling of caring about anything had been one of the first emotions to go.

The ring in Percy's hand had once again began glowing like it was when Athena supposedly 'blessed' it, except its aura had turned dark. The hollower that Percy became, the darker the aura of the ring got until Percy couldn't feel any worse, then it was as if the dark aura was released from the ring and seeped into him. In Percy's eyes, the world around him instantly got darker, all of the happy and bright colours that once gave him so much joy was replaced by harsh colours of black and grey, as well as this, all the colour in his skin darkened, his hair seemed darker than what should have been possible and his eyes were no longer their usual sea green. They were now just black, a cold, hollow black. It was as if the gods had cut him open and removed everything, leaving him empty. The ring dropped from his grip but never hit the floor, before it could, it disappeared in a small flash, but Percy didn't care.

He walked back along the beach towards the big house, not thinking about anything except the events that had just occurred. His emotions didn't change as they could no longer worsen, they had reached the lowest that they could possibly get. It didn't take him long to get to the big house since this time, he wasn't looking around as he walked through camp, luckily none of the campers had come out of their cabins so he wasn't seen by anyone, he would just ignore them anyway, but he didn't want to see anyone, ever.

When he arrived at the big house, there was a very worried Chiron stood on the porch watching him as he approached. The shock on his face was as if he was looking upon a ghost that had escaped the underworld. He could no longer see any of the Percy he had trained, the one he called son, instead it was replaced by a damaged vessel of what used to be. As Percy walked past him, not even acknowledging that he was there, he wanted to say something… his mouth sat open, but no words could form… he could only imagine what had happened, but he could make a good guess. He felt like it was his fault, like he had failed him by keeping the truth away, by using the excuse of not knowing for sure when it was obvious to anyone who saw it. He knew one thing for sure, the next day would be extremely important and he would need help to prevent the good side of Percy from disappearing forever. He had hoped that he would have at least a day to plan for anything like this…

Percy entered the big house and made his way to the guest room where he knew he'd be staying but honestly, he would collapse anywhere without a care in the world. When he got in, he didn't even lock the door, he just halfheartedly pushed it shut and collapsed on his bed, no tears fell from his eyes and he plunged into a dreamless sleep.


	6. Chapter 6 - Fall of a Hero

**Assassin of Chaos – Hollow**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Percy Jackson series, all rights belong to Rick Riordan**

**Chapter 6 – Fall of a Hero**

3rd Person POV

Thalia slowly opened her eyes from where she slept in the Zeus cabin, the small amount of light that was able to penetrate the blinds attacked her eyes continuously, forcing her to squint so that she could reduce the discomfort that they caused. Her surroundings were still and calm unlike what most of the other cabins experience, this being due to the lack of any siblings at the camp. Although most people would feel lonely, she preferred it this way, surrounded by empty beds where her brothers and sisters were supposed to be. It meant that she had a place all to herself where she could escape the mess that the camp had become.

It appeared that she had fallen asleep wearing yesterday's clothes again, which was now a common occurrence for the young heroine as she usually had no energy to change by the time she returned to her cabin. Her entire existence hurt as she recovered from yesterday's brutal training session with an annoyingly strong son of Hades, who she knew would also be in a very similar or worse state at the current moment. Ever since the two of them had decided to conduct their training privately in the forest with only one another, they had each grown into their own and developed quite a bit with their physical capabilities as well as their powers.

Thalia had also packed on a decent amount of muscle in the recent months. She was much stronger now, definitely stronger than the other campers, but her more feminine features were still very clear, even more so actually. She had grown slightly to an impressive six-foot-tall, making her appear even more intimidating, while also gaining a more distinct hourglass figure with her training 'unintentionally' allowing her bosom and backside to develop to that of a super model. Neither were obscenely large but were more than enough to gain the attention of the guys in camp, even some of the Aphrodite girls were jealous of how much she had matured. To go with these changes, she decided a while ago to stop spiking her hair up and instead allowed it to flow like a waterfall down her back, reaching just past her shoulders. Her facial features were also slightly more defined, adding to her beauty, and her electric blue eyes were so bright that they seemed to hold even more electric than they used to.

Thalia was extremely happy with the changes that she made to herself, even if it meant that whenever the campers saw her, she would get stared or ogled at. She never paid any attention to them, although occasionally she had to put an arrogant jerk back in their place who thought it was a good idea to get too close to her, but she found enjoyment in doing so. Even though the majority of the male campers constantly tried to get her attention when she was around, in her eyes, there was only one person who she ever thought about in that way, the one who had so selflessly endangered himself over and over again for his friends, only to be betrayed by the girl he chose over her… but now she had a chance.

Her powers had also become much stronger than they previously were, and she had been able to develop some new ones that she thought would come in handy in the future. Unfortunately, this led to even more intense training as she and Nico needed to be able to fully control these new abilities. This sadly had the side effect of making mornings very difficult for them, as seen by the fact that they were both still in bed. After the first few weeks, Chiron finally decided that he wouldn't be able to wake them up at the scheduled time so he would have to let them do it in their own time, so the mornings were entirely theirs to do with as they pleased, which was mostly sleep.

The training was one of the best decisions that Thalia and Nico made, and it was all because of that one night. Ever since the situation at the beach with that arrogant, self-centred, jerk and _Her, _they both made a sort of pact. They would never let them, or anyone get stronger than themselves, but they soon realised that they not only wanted to beat the two individuals, they wanted to destroy them. This is what led to the brutal training sessions becoming more regular until they ended up doing them every night, it was a good thing too as the camp had become insufferable soon after. The campers no longer focused on their training, instead they would follow Aiden's ways and spend their time doing nothing productive. Most of the guys spent their time trying to get the attention of the girls and the girls spent their time enjoying this attention and being jealous of each other.

Because of this, Thalia and Nico hardly spent any time in the camp anymore, preferring the company of each other and the setting of the forest in which they trained. If they were lucky, they sometimes ran into a monster to kill but even they started to avoid the forest after so many of them had been killed. Chiron tried to get the two of them to come back so many times that even he started to annoy them, he would say that they need to help get the campers training again, and that their new abilities should be an example to what they could all achieve with hard work. Both of them highly doubted that anyone else could achieve what they had, except of course for Percy, but out of respect for the father figure that they shared, they decided that they would give it a try, but as per usual it was ruined.

When they both entered the arena to begin the class that they were teaching, they found that no one was there except for Aiden and his most loyal followers. He gloated about how he told everyone to take the day off and that Thalia and Nico weren't good enough to teach them, soon enough the entire group that was present were laughing. The fact that everyone listened to someone like him made their blood boil and confirmed that training the campers was a hopeless dream, so they left after giving a short display of their new powers. Thalia had shot a weak arc of electric from her hand which was quickly followed by a small ball of what one could only describe as darkness from Nico, both of which struck their intended target almost simultaneously. The group of loyal followers stood still in disbelieve as their leader was thrown across the arena, afraid that they were about to receive the same thing but when nothing came, they rushed over to help him as the pair who committed the act left. They heard that it put him in the infirmary for over a week, but they didn't care enough to find out if it was true, and if it was, even Chiron didn't care enough to come and punish them for it.

After that day, neither of them spent any more time than they needed to in camp, and it hurt them inside every time they denied Chiron's requests, seeing the sadness in his eyes even though he understood their reasons.

Back to the present, Thalia now managed to sit herself up on the side of her bed and looked over to the small table beside her, actually at the photo resting on top of it. The photo was a reminder of the most important people in her life as it showed herself, Nico and Percy laughing together in the camp arena. The one problem with the photo was the area in which a particular person used to be before Thalia scratched them out of it. She couldn't bring herself to get rid of the photo entirely, so this was the next best option. The photo was one of the only physical things that she had that reminded her of Percy since when she was in the hunters, she couldn't exactly keep a picture a male, let alone two no matter who it was, so she would often find herself staring at it.

It had been more than six months since Percy left for his quest and she missed him so much, nothing was the same without him and if it wasn't for Nico, she would have probably gone crazy by now. They had both wanted to go search for him so many times after he was gone for more than a month, but every single time, they were denied permission to leave camp. Chiron would always say that it was something he needed to do alone and that he was sure that the young hero would be fine, but this did nothing to settle their nerves. It wasn't that they didn't believe in Percy, they both knew that he could overcome any challenge, but they just wanted to know that he was ok and after they found out about Aiden and _Her_, they wanted to tell him that the quest was a waste of his time. They could sneak out, and they had planned to, but Chiron reminded them that they were two of the few people that could actually defend the camp, so they decided to stay and protect their ungrateful campmates. A decision that they both regretted, but at the same time they knew it was the right thing to do.

After a few more minutes, Thalia finally mustered the strength to stand up and using this newfound momentum, she jumped into her shower to clean off all of the sweat and dirt that she had gathered the night before. Usually she would take very short showers as she was never comfortable in water, with her being a daughter of Zeus, but lately she started to take longer ones. She discovered that the feeling of water running down her body made it feel like Percy was nearby, like she was safe from all harm and the warmth she felt was his arms around her, but then she would force herself to leave the water before she was lost in further daydreams.

She quickly got dressed into some training clothes instead of her normal punk rock clothing as she found the extra manoeuvrability was necessary to perform at her best. The tight top that she wore was black and unlike the normal training tops that girls in camp wore, this top didn't show off any skin or other features like one would expect, she only needed functionality, nothing more and nothing less. The same went for the pants she wore as they were also skin-tight but flexible enough to allow her to run, climb and do anything else that she needed to do. Even with the none revealing clothing, they hugged her figure and every curve, leaving almost nothing to the imagination but she found it difficult to prevent this with her new… enhanced body. They were both black but had a line of yellow running down each arm and leg, to symbolise her powers, which at first she fought against but then warmed to the idea of everyone wearing something to represent themselves, Nico in black and Percy in blue. This image actually made her smile as she imagined the unstoppable team that they would be, obliterating anything that got in their way.

Having now got dressed, she checked the time to see that it was around lunch time, which was actually the normal time she wakes up, so she wasn't bothered by this at all and made her way towards the door.

The doors of the Zeus cabin swung open and the rays of sunshine took their chance to illuminate the dark interior of the cabin. Thalia quickly exited so that she could move onto her next task of the morning, waking up Nico since he was usually unable to get up without some 'assistance' from her electric. To be honest, Thalia would be lying if she said that she didn't enjoy shocking him awake every morning, the look on his face could make even Hades smile as his eyes shoot open and he launches himself out of his bed.

While walking over to the Hades cabin, she noticed that some trees appeared to have fallen down in the night but not only this, as there actually seemed to be a decent amount of damage around the cabins. The Demeter cabin's garden had a large crack through the middle of it which the cabin's inhabitants were trying to fix, the kids from the Aphrodite cabin were sat outside crying over some smashed mirrors, typical, and then the entire Ares cabin seemed to be admiring how the Athena cabin had almost been split in half. Thalia was extremely confused as she remembered seeing that everything was fine before she went to bed so whatever did this must have happened through the night. She figured that she must have slept through it because of how tired she was and guessed that Nico had as well.

Finally reaching the Hades cabin, she knocked rather loudly onto its doors, completely expecting the only inhabitant to not be anywhere near awake. After a minute or so with no reply, she decided to go in as her uncle Hades really didn't care, even he knew how lazy his son could be, but as she was reaching for the doors, they opened and emerged the figure of Nico di Angelo. Now unlike the Zeus cabin where light immediately penetrated into the cabin, the Hades cabin stayed dark and gloomy, as if the light didn't dare go in it, which would terrify any other camper, but Thalia actually found it quite funny as it showed how Apollo feared their uncle. Ever since Percy got Hades' throne back, he had shown his lighter side to the three of them, so they no longer saw him as the terrifying embodiment of death that everyone else did.

Nico stepped out of the darkness and visibly winced at the light of day, obviously preferring the dark atmosphere of his cabin. He wore very similar training clothes to Thalia except they were entirely black to symbolise his powers over the shadows and darkness but anyone who looked at him could instantly see who his godly parent was anyway. He had also grown in height to six-foot-one-inches which was very tall for a 14-year-old but what was most impressive was the muscle that he developed throughout the training. His arms were now quite large but not excessively so like some of the other campers, instead they made him look like the perfect specimen and to go with this, his legs, back, abs and pretty much every part of his body had also developed to that of an Olympian. The clothing that he wore stuck to his toned body in a similar fashion to how Thalia's stuck to her, and it had very much the same effect on the campers, as the girls drooled whenever they saw him, and the guys glared at him with eyes full of jealousy. You'd think that the girls would remember that he preferred the company of males rather than females, but ever since he broke up with Will, their attempts to change his mind had become even more persistent, which he found incredibly annoying and somewhat… cute…

Thalia looked at her cousin who was essentially her brother in everything except blood, and noticed how he was looking around the cabins, confused or troubled at the things he saw, confirming her suspicions that he had also slept through whatever had happened. It was a good thing that no one had needed them to help with whatever had occurred as neither of them would have been able to get up.

"Well good morning death breath, you're looking as radiant as usual"

Nico looked down at her from the top of the steps that led into his cabin, a smile on his face at the sarcasm filled greeting he had just received.

"Good morning to you too, Sparky"

The smirk that had been present across Thalia's face was instantly replaced with a scowl as she heard her least favourite nickname. To make matters even worse, some sparks could be seen flying off of her which only served to make Nico laugh even more than he already was, but he was soon followed by Thalia as she realised what was happening. They both stood there laughing for a good minute until they composed themselves and started moving towards the dining pavilion, talking about anything that came to mind. It wasn't long until they started talking about their surroundings and the damage that they could see.

"What do you think happened Thals? It looks as if the Minotaur had a party in camp"

After a small laugh, Thalia looked around her and found even more fallen trees and damaged sections of camp.

"I'm not sure Nico, I don't think any monsters did this as they can't even get into camp, and if they did, Chiron would have definitely tried to come and get us to kill them since everyone else seems to be NEGLECTING THEIR TRAINING", a group of passing Apollo children gave her an angry look as the statement was clearly aimed at them, but it was quickly diminished by her own harsh glare.

"Good point, maybe we should just ask Chiron, it obviously wasn't that serious, but we should find out if it could happen again anytime soon"

With that, they both started moving towards the Big House, finding even more damage as they did so they figured that the entire camp had been affected by what must have been some kind of earthquake. After about a minute of quiet walking, the two of them reached their destination to find the old centaur looking rather distressed and worried on the house's porch. As they approached, he seemed to finally notice them and visibly relaxed a little, but he still looked very distraught.

"Ah, good. I was just about to send someone to try wake you guys up. You two should really try waking up earlier you know, you waste almost half of the day"

The statement was more of a request than anything else as the two in question looked at each other, they both knew that he disapproved of their routine, but it was what they needed to do...

After recovering from the moment of awkwardness, Thalia decided to steer the conversation towards the subject they were here to discuss, before Chiron started to try guilt them into helping the rest of the camp again.

"Yeh… sorry Chiron… anyway, what happened to camp, it looks like the Minotaur decided to have a party, was there an attack through the night?"

Nico glared at Thalia for stealing his metaphor while she just stuck her tongue out at him playfully, although at the mention of the devastation dealt to the camp, Chiron nervously looked back into the Big House, as if he was afraid that someone was about to come out. The pair noticed this and instantly knew that he was hiding something.

After reassuring himself that no one was there, Chiron turned back towards the teens who had a confused look across their faces.

"No there was not an attack, if you didn't work yourselves so hard, you would have been woken up just like everyone else did" the statement caused them both to drop their hands in shame. They shared the same thoughts about not being ready if it was actually an attack and silently decided that they would need to do something about it.

For the next minute, the two kept their eyes glued to the floor, avoiding what they thought would be a disappointed look on their mentor's face but in reality, the centaur's face showed no disappointment to them, instead it seemed to be aimed towards himself.

Chiron was already immensely disappointed with himself for what he perceived as failing Percy. He had not been able to sleep at all after the incident last night as his head was filled with scenes from over the past few months. These scenes haunted him as they very clearly showed how Annabeth had changed, and how he had missed or willingly ignored it in the hope that it wasn't true. The new disappointment that he now felt was due to purposely making his other two favourite campers feel ashamed, he knew that what they were doing was for the best, but he still missed having them around.

"Come inside you two, there is a lot that we must talk about and I don't want anyone else hearing any of it"

Thalia and Nico looked around before nodding and following the centaur into the house, soon after they arrived in Chiron's office. Everyone took a seat, Thalia and Nico in front of the desk while Chiron positioned himself behind it, now in his wheelchair form so that he would fit better and be able to converse with more ease. The pair looked at their teacher, waiting for him to tell them what was on his mind, the troubled look on his face still present with no signs of leaving anytime soon.

"So, as you two have probably seen, the entire camp was struck by an earthquake last night, a powerful one at that," the pair instantly looked to one another. They knew that if Poseidon was angry enough to cause an earthquake at camp, something big must have happened, and if it was one of their father's that caused it, they could be a target. Normally, they wouldn't be afraid of that if Percy was around, but he isn't, or it could involve Percy… which scared them even more.

Seeing the panic that he had caused, Chiron quickly finished what he was saying, "I know what you are probably thinking, and no, Lord Poseidon did not create this earthquake. Someone in camp caused it but they were able to control themselves before anything irreversible could happen"

Both Thalia and Nico were shocked that someone within the camp could have caused something that damaged the entire camp to such a degree, they were even more shocked that it was an earthquake. They both knew that if Poseidon was not the one who caused the earthquake, it must have been one of his children and as far as they knew, the only child of Poseidon within the camp at that time was Aiden.

Their shock instantly turned into anger, blue sparks started to fly off of Thalia and singe the carpet that their chairs were on, but as well as this, the room started to get darker and colder as the shadows within started to snuff out the light and surround Nico. Soon enough, the only light and heat that could be seen or felt in the room came from the sparks generated by Thalia. Neither one of them could believe that Aiden would ever be able to do something like that or be anywhere near powerful enough to do something like that.

As their powers started to get even more out of their control, the sparks got larger to the point where they would soon start fires and the shadows were so thick that they would soon suffocate them all. Chiron didn't know what to do, he never thought that they would react like this to anything, and he definitely hadn't seen anything like this before, at least not from a demigod. Quickly thinking back to what he had actually said, he understood how it could anger them so much, he knew that he needed them to calm down before they destroyed the entire house and possibly injured someone outside or… someone inside the house.

"YOU TWO NEED TO CALM DOWN RIGHT NOW! YOU ARE GOING TO INJURE SOMEONE OR EACH OTHER!"

Thalia and Nico said nothing back, instead they looked to one another and started to see that their powers were indeed starting to hurt each other. Thalia saw that the sparks she was generating were starting to burn the ground they stood on and where they landed on Nico, small burns were being left behind. Nico noticed that Thalia was now struggling to breath normally and seemed to be choking on the darkness around her, she was also shivering a bit from the cold that his powers created but because of her rage, she wouldn't notice until she passed out.

Realising that their rage was only going to hurt each other, they focused on controlling their powers, reducing the sparks and dispersing the darkness. If one thing in the world was clear to them both, it was that they never wanted to hurt each other and that they would do everything possible to protect one another.

The room returned to its original state, as if nothing ever happened but the small burn marks on the floor and the cold chill in the air begged to differ. Chiron sat there in silence, trying to understand what he had just witnessed, to understand how two young demigods could have so much raw power within them, but more importantly, what had caused them to almost lose control of said power, even though he had a good idea what and silently cursed himself for how he explained it. Recounting the conversation that they had conducted before the incident, he figured that they must have been angered by the fact that someone within camp was able to create the earthquake as it probably took a lot of strength… or a traumatic event…

"Now that you two have managed to calm yourselves down, do you want to explain to me why you had that reaction. It is unlike either of you two to react like that without a reason"

Thalia and Nico may not be expressing their anger through their powers anymore, but they were still feeling every single part of that emotion right now. Their minds were racing and trying to figure out how someone like Aiden could ever manage to create what seemed to be a somewhat powerful earthquake when he doesn't train or put any effort into anything except making himself look good. Nothing they came up with made any sense, in no situation would Aiden be able to use his powers over earthquakes, even Percy found it difficult so Aiden should find it impossible.

After coming up with no answers himself, Nico decided that the next best option was to ask Chiron, but to do this he would probably have to stop ignoring him and answer the question he was being asked.

"We reacted like that Chiron because it should be impossible for someone like Aiden to create an earthquake powerful enough to damage the entire camp! But what I think we're angrier about is that even with our training, he isn't as far behind us than we thought!", the words were spat out of his mouth like venom but were not necessarily aimed at Chiron, instead they were just being used as an outlet for some of his anger. He knew that none of this could be Chiron's fault, but his anger was overwhelming him, the good thing was that Thalia seemed to be taking it better but still hadn't said a single word.

Silence fell upon the room once more as Chiron processed the information he had just received; his initial suspicions were correct but that didn't do anything to ease the feeling of shame he was feeling for messing up yet again. The only thing that he could now do was tell them what really happened last night and hope that they wouldn't react the same way. He looked towards Nico who was waiting for him to say something, a look of anger present on his face but not towards anyone.

After a minute, he shifted his gaze to Thalia who hadn't moved ever since she managed to get control over her powers. Chiron knew that Thalia had a very impatient and explosive attitude, as well as this, any competition caused her to want to be the best and could have some devasting effects on her, but she was just sat there, not saying anything or even looking at anything in particular. She seemed to be trapped within her thoughts, trying to come to terms with what she thought the situation was, but she was clearly struggling. He knew that if he didn't tell them the truth, they would leave here and do something that they would later regret, but in their current state, they won't be able to do what is desperately needed of them.

The silence of the situation was then interrupted as floorboards creaked above everyone's heads. The two children instantly looked towards the ceiling of the room, the conversation they were currently having left their heads for a second as they tried to decide whether or not it was someone listening in on it. They both knew that the only other person who would be in the house is Mr D and he wasn't in camp at the moment, and he wouldn't even care enough about their conversation to spy so it must be someone else.

Everyone in the room remained silent as they listened to the sound of someone walking above them, the fact that the creaks were common and loud meant that the person who caused them did not feel like they needed to hide, this became even more evident when the creaking stopped and a shower turned on to replace it.

Thalia and Nico were still looking at the source of the sound when they heard a loud exhale from their mentor which instantly diverted their attention towards the centaur in the room. The troubled look that was previously present on his face was briefly replaced by one of sadness before it reverted back, he then looked towards the guests he had and gave a defeated sigh. Chiron couldn't think of any other way of completing his new task without involving the two young people in front of him, so he made the final choice to tell them the truth.

"I understand why you children would be upset by the thought that Aiden is a strong individual, even without any training… but he was not the one who created the earthquake that shook the camp" the statement confused Nico, he couldn't see any other way an earthquake could be created, Thalia on the other hand seemed to connect the dots instantly. Her previous motionless state disappeared as her eyed suddenly widened, her hands tightened around the armrests of her chair before she stood from her chair with the speed of a lightning bolt. Her eyes settled on a glimmer of determination, but she couldn't hide the hint of worry that she was feeling, Nico was further confused by the reaction she had to such a vague statement. Thalia turned her head once more to look at where the footsteps had been created and the shower still ran, an extremely faint scent of the sea oozed from the wood separating the different floors of the house. Her mind was both racing but focused at the same time, her emotions ran wild, from happiness to anger, excitement to worry before settling on what she could only describe as hope. This hope replaced all of the other emotion in her eyes as she lowered her head to look her mentor, tears forming and ready to fall at a moment's notice.

She opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out, no matter how hard she tried, nothing could come out. Her entire world seemed to have been turned upside down with the hope she felt and if it was destroyed, there was no doubt that she would fall and crumble to dust…

Suddenly a hand was placed on her shoulder which caused her to turn her head to look at who it belonged to. Nico's face was covered with worry and… fear… any anger he felt was replaced with concern for his sister, he had never seen her this way before and it actually scared him… because he didn't know what he could do to help her…

Thalia looked into his worry-ridden eyes, the concern he had for her evident in every second that passed. A warmth filled her body from the sibling love that they shared, and she finally realised that she had been shaking where she stood, but now she wasn't. Taking a few seconds to compose herself, she closed her mouth and straightened herself to her full height, her eyes closed, then she took in a deep breath.

For a moment, time seemed to stop, until a single tear ran down her left cheek as the breath exhaled from her body…

"P-Percy…?"

The hope in her voice was refreshing to Chiron, replenishing a bit of his own as all the doubt he had about telling them the truth disappeared. Nico, who had remained confused up to this point finally managed to figure out what caused Thalia to react in such a way, his eyes widened as he waited for an answer to the question asked. The amount of hope present in that small room became so large that even the goddess of the hearth herself would have felt it on Olympus, if she was actually there.

Everything remained still and quiet, as if the entire house or even camp was waiting to hear the response from Chiron. Thalia and Nico got more hopeful with every second that passed but with this hope came the fear of losing it. Neither one of them thought that they'd be able to recover if it was ripped from under them, leaving nothing but a pit in which their minds would most definitely be lost in.

With one final look at his students, seeing the hope in their eyes and the fear on their faces, he calmly spoke, relief clear in his voice and a hint of happiness to follow it as he finally said it out loud.

"Yes, young Perseus has finally returned from his quest…"

Those were the only words that Chiron could get out before the door of his office was almost torn off of its hinges. Thalia was already halfway up the stairs of the house, climbing up five steps at a time as if she was flying up towards the guest room. Even though she didn't wait long enough for Chiron to tell her where her friend was, with every step taken the familiar smell of the sea filled her nose but there was something different. The smell seemed 'off' to her; it was definitely the same smell that she came to love but it was as if it was slowly decaying until it finally disappeared.

Stopping outside of the guest room, she stared at the door and listened to the shower that she could hear within, the hesitation giving Nico enough time to catch up to her until they were both waiting next to each other. Both of them wanted to rush inside to their best friend but neither knew what they would say to him first, not wanting to ruin the reunion with bad news straight away but not being able to think of anything else to say at the current moment.

Nico was the one to finally reach up and knock on the door, leaving three loud knocks before retracting his hand back to his side and looking to his left to see Thalia still stuck in her thoughts. Grabbing her hand, he gave it a reassuring squeeze then the shower was cut off and the sound of another door within the room was heard. Footsteps and creaking floorboards indicated that the inhabitant of the room was getting closer until they stopped, and the door opened.

As soon as the figure in the doorframe was accessible, they both lunged forward a trapped him in a hug, their eyes shut tight as if they were afraid that it was all a dream, but the feeling was much too real to be created in a dream. Tears escaped down their cheeks as the feeling of relief and happiness flooded their bodies, relieved that their friend was ok and happy that he was finally back with them, but the lack of a returning embrace did not go unmissed.

After what felt like a lifetime, they pulled back and finally looked at the person they embraced, only to see someone with skin paler and more colourless than Nico's father, hair even more lifeless and eyes that they didn't recognise, black, hollow eyes where there should be beautiful sea green ones.

The person in front of them was both unrecognisable and unmistakably their best friend, Percy Jackson.

* * *

_**Meanwhile at Atlantis**_

The underwater city of Atlantis was a serene place where the people of the sea could live without concern of what happened on the surface above them, their king made sure of this with his power over the domains allocated to him. The city towered over the rest of the sea floor, climbing high towards the surface but maintaining a safe distance from it, ensuring that no one from the surface could venture down and discover it. Coral thrived everywhere you looked as well as the most exotic and beautiful sea flowers, creatures of the sea could be seen swimming around and doing their part to preserve such an incredible atmosphere. The buildings were made of the finest stone you could gather from the vast oceans, along with some of the largest and most magnificent pearls anyone could ever imagine, all blended together perfectly to create structures that could rival the ones on the great city of the gods.

The one individual who was most impressed and proud of the city was the king himself, Poseidon, who saw its many developments and recoveries after the wars as massive achievements. Ever since the gods had been changed by the actions of the demigods, they had been able to put even more care into their own domains and take more action in what happens. Poseidon had been able to take care of his own underwater kingdom to a better extent since his son had won the gods both of the great wars, this allowed his people to thrive and he couldn't tell his brother, but it had also made him stronger.

The god was currently relaxing in his throne room, listening to reports being given by his loyal subjects, each of which brought good news about the development of the city. Unfortunately, the happy feeling that this created soon came to an end when there was a blinding flash signifying the arrival of another god.

Knowing there was only one god, or rather goddess, who could enter his domain without his permission, he looked towards the new arrival and smiled brightly, expecting the same in return instead of the grief-stricken face that looked back. This was not an expression he ever wanted to see on this beautiful face.

Acting quickly, he rushed towards the goddess and embraced her in a hug as tears finally started to escape down her face onto his shoulders. Her knees seemed to buckle as he found himself supporting the entirety of her weight before he carefully lowered them both onto the floor, maintaining the hug and comfort he was trying to instil while she continued to sob into his neck.

Seeing the situation playing out in front of them, the sea creatures that were previously giving reports rushed out of the room before closing the door behind them, intending to give the two gods the privacy that they obviously sought. Poseidon noticed this and internally thanked his subjects for their ability to read their environment and the respect that they show. He then pulled back slightly to look into the eyes of the distraught goddess in front of him. The previously soft, understanding, caring eyes that normally graced her face were replaced by ones of pain and loss, slightly puffy from her crying which had yet to stop.

"What's wrong Hestia… what's happened… please tell me…"

Poseidon's voice was tender and quiet, barely above a whisper, afraid that anything he said would cause the goddess now identified as Hestia to lose herself even more.

Hestia couldn't even begin to piece together any words as she struggled to control the overwhelming pain that coursed through her body. She had been on Olympus tending to the hearth throughout the night as she usually did when she suddenly felt as if someone had driven a sword through her heart. The sudden pain had almost caused her to collapse but luckily she was one of the strongest Olympians, even if she was a pacifist, so she was able to fight through the event.

The night had given way to the day before she was able to recover enough of her energy and find out what had happened. The only thing she knew was that something had happened in her domain, but what could cause this event to be so significant was beyond her knowledge. She quickly searched through Olympus for any sign of this disturbance but found nothing, so she extended her search and found herself looking at Camp Half Blood. The camp looked as if it had been attacked which could explain why she felt something but the pain she experienced must have been caused by something much worse.

Hestia had asked Iris, the goddess of the rainbows, to show her what had occurred at camp and the scene she watched almost destroyed her. She saw how Percy had returned from his quest and talked with his mentor, which she enjoyed very much because of the evident care and love that they shared, but then she watched as he made his way through the camp and towards the beach. The next thing she witnessed is what caused her the pain she was currently experiencing as she watched the hope be ripped from the hero's body, along with the happiness and joy that he normally brought to her and everyone around him.

She saw what had caused this to happen but couldn't linger long enough to allow herself to become angry as she went to Atlantis immediately to see her brother, where she was currently being comforted, still unable to say or do anything except cry.

Poseidon didn't know what to do at the sight of his beloved sister in such a distraught and fragile state. Anything he came up with felt like it would have no impact, so he just continued to hold her, trying to get her to tell him what had happened. His theories ranged from possible family arguments to the death of someone important to her, and anyone important to her was important to everyone which scared him greatly. Whatever it was, he was beyond angry at it for hurting such a loving and caring woman.

He was abruptly pulled out of his thoughts at the sound of Hestia trying to speak, her tears still running down her face and her eyes showing that there were still more to fall. Poseidon reluctantly released her from the hug and took her hands in his, giving them a slight squeeze in a hope that she would feel safe enough to tell him what had happened to her. His efforts were rewarded as her breathing became calmer and she managed to reach his eyes with her own.

"Perseus…"

That one word managed to escape her mouth in a choked tone, but that was all she needed to say. The effect was immediate as Poseidon's world shattered, his face being struck with fear and worry, millions of thoughts racing through his mind trying to think of what could have happened to his son, all of which were events he couldn't bear to think about any longer.

The sea god stood and collected his trident with unbelievable speed and was about to flash away when his arm was grabbed by the now standing goddess that had somehow been pushed to the back of his mind. A look of concern and determination met his own and the reason for this was understood instantly as he only nodded, and the two gods flashed away from Atlantis.

* * *

**Camp Half Blood**

Thalia sat on the bed in the guest room of the Big House, watching the bathroom door that her beloved friend had just gone back into. She was currently in the room by herself as Nico had left to talk with Chiron who had been left alone in his office when the two of them rushed to see Percy. Apparently he had something more to say to them before they did this, but Thalia didn't want to leave Percy now that he was finally back, so Nico left to talk with the old centaur. Soon after he left, Percy had gone back into the bathroom as the only thing he was wearing was a towel around his lower half. This had caused Thalia to blush, a blush that she was still wearing, as she realised how close she had come to accidentally seeing him naked, not that she would've minded but it was most definitely the wrong time for this to happen.

Although the son of Poseidon was no longer in her direct view, Thalia couldn't forget the appearance of the young hero and the changes that she had seen. She was expecting to be greeted by the fun loving, happy and life-filled form of her best friend but was instead greeted by what she could only describe as an empty husk of all these things. Even when they had all reunited after half a year of separation, he had little to no reaction except when he tensed up as they trapped him in a hug, a hug that he didn't even return, a hug that the normal Percy would've loved… but this was clearly not the normal Percy.

Nothing Thalia came up with would explain why Percy's appearance had changed so much, she even considered that a god could have done this but quickly dropped this chain of thought as no god would risk angering Poseidon by targeting Percy. Then there was the cold, empty feeling that overtook her when she first looked into his eyes, a feeling that she could only combat because of the immense happiness she was feeling at the time. Something had definitely happened to him and she was going to find out, then she was going to get the Percy she remembered back.

The sound of a door unlocking snapped Thalia out of her thoughts as her vision focused on the emerging figure that was Percy. Although she had only just started to view her friend, she once again averted her gaze and blushed the colour of a strawberry when she noticed that he was only wearing a pair of boxers. Even with her reaction, Percy didn't seem to care and walked over to a set of drawers where he found some clothes that he then started to put on. Thalia couldn't overcome her curiosity as she peaked at his form, noticing the extreme amount of muscle that he had, but also noticing that in a similar way to Nico, there was the perfect amount, no more, no less. Unfortunately, his physical aspects were overshadowed by the pale colour of his skin, a colour so lifeless one would think he had spent years underground.

Continuing to cautiously examine his appearance, Thalia's eyes soon found their way to his right arm where a large, painful looking scar covered almost its entire length. Once again losing to her curiosity, she hesitantly asked him about it, hoping that it wouldn't be a touchy subject for him.

"Percy… what is that scar on your arm?"

For the first time since he came out of the bathroom, Percy acknowledged the presence of Thalia and looked down at his arm, no emotion on his face except for the underlying sadness that had been present ever since last night.

"I got that from my quest, a run in with a monster that got the upper hand on me"

His tone gave no impression that he was trying to hide something, but the statement did nothing to appease Thalia.

"What monster could possibly get the upper hand on you…" is what she replied with, adding a nervous laugh in an attempt to break the staleness of the conversation.

"Kampȇ"

Thalia froze at the mention of Kampȇ, panic flooded her body as she pictured the hideous monstrosity that this particular monster was. Her heart tightened as if someone had it clenched in their hand, but she soon replaced this feeling of unease with further worry and confusion as Percy once again gave no reaction.

Kampȇ was one of the worst, despicable and most powerful monsters that ever existed and Percy was acting as if she was some insignificant hell hound, granted he had beaten her once before, but he was helped the first time. This time though, he had been all alone… but he was here now meaning that he must have managed to beat her again… at least that's the only outcome Thalia could think off.

A thought suddenly appeared in her mind, '_What if Kampȇ was the reason for Percy's change, maybe she cursed him or something!'_. Just as she was about to ask Percy for more about the encounter, Nico came back into the room and asked to speak with her. Though reluctant to leave Percy, she followed Nico out into the hallway and closed the door to the guest room.

As soon as the door shut, Thalia turned towards the son of Hades and impatiently waited for him to say whatever it was that he needed to say.

"Chiron told me some things about last night, when Percy returned to camp…"

Hearing the hesitation in Nico's voice, Thalia continued to look at him with a piercing stare, one that told him to get on with it otherwise something bad was soon to happen to him… yes, this was a stare he had seen many times before.

Continuing with his side of the conversation, Nico began to finish what he was saying, "When Chiron first saw Percy last night, he wasn't like this," he gestured towards the closed door "apparently he was his old, lovable self but then he went for a walk around the camp. Soon after, the earthquake happened and he returned to the house looking like he does now, though maybe not as sad according to Chiron"

This new information shocked Thalia, just like it had shocked Nico when he was first told it. '_What on earth could have happened last night to cause such an immediate change, and within camp too'_, this was the thought dominating her mind at the current moment, and once again she couldn't think of anything answers.

Before she had the chance to reply, Nico started to speak again, giving her little time to complete her thoughts. "Chiron thinks he might know what Percy saw last night but he wouldn't tell me because he wasn't sure. He then told me that he wants us to stay with Percy and try help him recover from whatever is happening to him until he can find out exactly what has happened. He recommended taking him to the arena and showing him some of our new powers"

Upon hearing the suggestion, Thalia's attitude slightly improved as this was something she had wanted to do for months. Quickly agreeing with Nico, she turned back to the door and slowly opened it, but suddenly stopped when she saw that Percy was now stood in the middle of the room. She watched him as he admired something in his hand, slowly rotating it as if it was something completely foreign to him, but at the same time, familiar…

Taking a small step forward into the room, she managed to get an unobstructed view of the object and was surprised to see that it was Anaklusmos or Riptide as it was commonly referred to as. This sword held so many memories, from the betrayal of a demigod, to the life and sacrifice of a precious friend, Zoë. Saying that the sword was important would be a massive understatement.

Percy continued to inspect the weapon until a small sea green light started being emitted from the blade, a light that started to shine brighter until it became almost impossible to look at. The previous cold, gloomy atmosphere of the room was replaced by an all too familiar feeling of warmth and joy, a feeling that would normally be present when Percy was around but had been absent up until now.

Thalia and Nico bathed in this new aura even though they were forced to shield their eyes, but soon found that the light started to dim. Being the first one to be able to adjust and open their eyes, Thalia witnessed the green light from the sword surround Percy before finally disappearing completely. The reason for this event was unclear, but then she saw it… something that gave her hope in the darkest of times… a smile… a small half smile but a smile none the less… on the face of the person she loved.

* * *

**Author's Note**

**I know its been a long time since I've uploaded a new chapter to this story and I apologise for that, it's just that I sort of fell out of love with it for a while. This doesn't mean that I am abandoning it, I'm going to finish it at some point, just don't expect chapters to appear regularly. I've still got lots of ideas for where it could go but I also have other projects that I want to do, projects that I feel more excited about and can't wait to start. This is why I am going to be starting a new story and revisiting this one every so often when I have more inspiration for it. I don't know when the first chapter of this new story will be completed but I am going to start it as soon as possible so be on the look out if you want to. **


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